A self-described gangster, Duane “Keefe-D” Davis, who, according to police and prosecutors, masterminded the 1996 shooting of Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas, made his first court appearance on a murder charge on Wednesday.
Wearing a dark-blue jail uniform and plastic orange slippers, Davis was scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday, but the hearing was cut short after he asked the Clark County District Judge, Tierra Jones, to postpone the hearing while he retains counsel in Las Vegas, Associated Press reports.
After his arrest last Friday, a grand jury indictment was unsealed in Clark County District Court, charging him with murder. Grand jurors also voted to add sentencing enhancements for the use of a deadly weapon and alleged gang activity.
Davis had been a long-known suspect in the case and publicly admitted his role in the killing in interviews ahead of his 2019 tell-all memoir. His comments revived the police investigation that led to the indictment, police and prosecutors said.
Prosecutors allege Shakur’s killing stemmed from a rivalry and competition for dominance in a musical genre that, at the time, was dubbed “gangsta rap.”
