Tupac murder suspect Duane Keith ‘Keffe D’ Davis is now claiming he made up his previously aired story about the legendary rapper’s 1996 death.
Davis, 60, was arrested this past September – after boasting about his alleged role in the Las Vegas killing in a series of videos and a supposedly self-penned book.
Davis was allegedly inside the car suspected of firing the fatal shot at the then 24-year-old Shakur – and is currently facing a trial slated for June 3.
He is also the only person to be charged with a crime related to the infamous murder, and entered a not guilty plea in a Las Vegas court last month.
In a 33-page bail application filed this week, he insisted he only spoke about Shakur’s shooting for entertainment purposes and to profit from the now decades-old case.
Duane Keith ‘Keffe D’ Davis Davis, 60, was arrested this past September – after boasting about his alleged role in the Las Vegas killing in a series of videos and self-penned book. He now claims he made all that up for money and attention, and hopes to secure $100,00 bail
He was reportedly inside the car suspected of firing the fatal shot at the then 24-year-old Shakur – seen here with Death Row music producer Suge Knight. Knight was in the car with the Shakur the night of the murder, and lawyers for Davis this week wrote Knight could exonerate him
Knight, 58, is currently serving a 28 year sentence in prison for mowing down and killing a Compton businessman in 2015, and told TMZ after Davis’s arrest that prosecutors got it wrong
Davis also pointed to old Death Row boss Knight as the only person who could exonerate him, citing how he had been in the car with the rapper at the time of the shooting.
The self-described gang member’s lawyers wrote: ‘The most compelling evidence that Duane was not involved in the murder of Shakur comes from the mouth of the surviving victim and only living eyewitness, Marion “Suge” Knight.
‘Knight is currently incarcerated in a California prison,’ the bail request continues, mentioning the 58-year-old’s recent sentence to 28 years in prison for mowing down and killing a Compton businessman in 2015.
The attorneys go on to cite how Knight – once one of the most feared names in the music industry – was interviewed over the phone by TMZ after Davis’ September arrest, and told the tabloid his rival was innocent.
There, reporters mentioned to Knight how prosecutors had been under the belief that Davis’ nephew, Orlando ‘Baby Lane’ Anderson, was the shooter, and Davis was in on it.
They framed it as revenge for a brawl Shakur was involved in with Anderson just before the shooting, with Davis having ‘full knowledge of what was going down.’
However, in the jailhouse interview, Knight dismissed that sequence of events.
‘No,’ he told the outlet of the currently accepted theory.
‘Then who shot Tupac?’ the reporter asked.
‘It wasn’t Anderson, that’s all I have to say about that.’
Tupac Shakur was born in New York City to two Black Panther activists. He sold 75 million records worldwide and is considered one of the most influential rappers of all time
Prosecutors have framed the drive-by as revenge for a brawl Shakur was involved in with Davis’ nephew before the shooting, with Davis in on it. Knight, however, dismissed that version of events, telling reporters: ‘It wasn’t Anderson, that’s all I have to say about that’
Lawyers for the former Southern California street gang leader cited the back-and-forth in their filing, and requested the court reassess their decision to jail him without bail before his upcoming trial in June
The back-and-forth was transcribed in full in the recent bail filing, which was first reported by The US Sun. Lawyers asked Davis’ bail be set at $100,000.
To bolster the request, the attorneys mentioned how Las Vegas prosecutors never called Knight to the stand to testify before the grand jury that indicted their client, ‘despite being the only living eyewitness, and a surviving victim.’
The filing adds: ‘Knight’s public statements have refuted Duane’s alleged version of events.
‘Knight and Duane grew up playing football together in Compton. They played on the same team. Knight’s father and uncle were the coaches. They’ve known each other for approximately fifty years,’ it continues, of the pair’s childhood in the Bay Area.
‘If Duane’s story… was true; that him and Knight locked eyes before Shakur was shot, Knight would have been able to identify Duane and Anderson,’ it concludes.
The bail request, while still in legal limbo, serves as the latest development in the now decades-old case.
It broke open this past September when Davis apparently implicated himself during multiple interviews and in his memoir Compton Street Legend, which described his life leading a Crips gang sect in Compton.
The bail request serves as the latest development in the now decades-old case. It broke open in September when Davis – ex-attorney Ross Goodman in court on October 19 – implicated himself during interviews and in his memoir, account his new lawyers now say were made up
In it, he wrote that he was promised immunity from prosecution in 2010 when he told authorities what he knew about the fatal shootings of Shakur and rival rapper Christopher ‘The Notorious B.I.G’ Wallace, six months later in Los Angeles
Facing federal drug charges, ‘he admitted to involvement in Shakur’s death,’ the bail application states, in exchange for immunity in the other case
Footage of his arrest showed the moment Davis brags that he’s a ‘pro’ when being bundled into the back of the police car – as well as the fact he’s allegedly implicated in the ‘biggest case in Las Vegas history’
Claiming he ‘left the drug game’ in 2009, the lawyers went on to assert, ‘Going on the run would be a death sentence for him’. He is seen here in his September mug shot, after being booked on a single a charge of murder with use of a deadly weapon in a gang-related homicide
In it, he wrote that he was promised immunity from prosecution in 2010 when he told authorities what he knew about the fatal shootings of Shakur and rival rapper Christopher ‘The Notorious B.I.G’ Wallace, six months later in Los Angeles.
Facing federal drug charges, ‘he admitted to involvement in Shakur’s death,’ the bail application states, in exchange for immunity in the other case.
‘Information from this immunity deal was [then] released into the public by Greg Kading,’ the attorneys then wrote, mentioning the former LAPD detective who led a task force that investigated the murders of the famed arch-rival rappers.
‘Kading secretly recorded one of the interviews and went on to write a book and movie and to produce a miniseries from the secret recording,’ the request notes.
‘Duane decided to become involved with the publishing of the book Compton Street Legend and to give interviews for money after watching Greg Kading profit.’
They wrote of Davis’s book, released in 2017: ‘It has not been established which parts of the book, if any, Duane wrote.’
Asking he be released on house arrest with electronic monitoring until his trial, they added: ‘[Davis] is not a threat to the community. Additionally, he is not a flight risk.
Claiming he ‘left the drug game’ in 2009, the lawyers went on to assert, ‘Going on the run would be a death sentence for him.’
Davis, meanwhile, has pleaded not guilty. He is facing a single a charge of murder with use of a deadly weapon in a gang-related homicide.