Murder Charge Confirmed for Sole Suspect in 1996 Tupac Shakur Homicide.

LAS VEGAS—The only individual ever charged in the 1990s murder of rap legend Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas has been denied a request to dismiss his murder case.

In a ruling made on Tuesday, Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny stated that Duane “Keffe D” Davis is not shielded from prosecution, as he has not substantiated claims of immunity agreements purportedly made years ago with federal and local authorities while he resided in California.

Davis and his attorney contended that he should never have been indicted for murder due to these alleged agreements. Attorney Carl Arnold described the indictment against his 61-year-old client as an “egregious” breach of his constitutional rights, emphasizing the 27-year delay in prosecution; however, Kierny indicated that she found no evidence suggesting the delay was deliberate.

Following the court session, Arnold mentioned that they would decide in the forthcoming days whether to appeal the judge’s ruling to the state Supreme Court.

Davis’ trial in Las Vegas is currently slated for March 17, but it may be postponed pending his appeal. He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and remains incarcerated in Las Vegas.

Prosecutors maintain that the evidence against Davis is substantial, including his own descriptions of the 1996 shooting in his candid memoir. An ex-gang leader, Davis is alleged to have orchestrated the shooting near the Las Vegas Strip that resulted in Shakur’s death shortly after a confrontation at a casino involving Shakur and Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson.

Davis hails from Compton, California. He was apprehended in September 2023 in his vicinity near Las Vegas, nearly three decades following the shooting that remains one of the most persistent enigmas in hip-hop history.

Through interviews and his 2019 memoir, which recounts his life as a leader of a Crips gang faction in Compton, Davis stated that he acquired a .40-caliber handgun and passed it to Anderson in the back seat of a vehicle from which, authorities assert, shots were fired at Shakur in another car.

Davis is the last surviving suspect. Anderson had previously denied any involvement in the shooting before his death in 1998, and the other two men who were in the car with Anderson and Davis are also deceased.

Shakur’s untimely death at age 25 occurred while his fourth solo album, “All Eyez on Me,” was still on the charts, having sold approximately 5 million copies. A six-time Grammy nominee, Shakur is widely regarded as one of the most influential and diverse rappers in history.

By Rio Yamat