Current:Home > InvestLawyers for ex-gang leader held in Tupac Shakur killing say he should be released from jail-InfoLens
Lawyers for ex-gang leader held in Tupac Shakur killing say he should be released from jail
View Date:2024-12-23 14:47:53
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Attorneys for a former Los Angeles-area gang leader charged with orchestrating the killing of hip-hop music legend Tupac Shakur in 1996 say prosecutors are wrong — that their client is facing danger, not witnesses — and he should be released from jail to house arrest ahead of his trial in June.
In a Monday court filing ahead of a bail hearing Tuesday, Duane “Keffe D” Davis’ court-appointed attorneys accuse prosecutors of misinterpreting a jail telephone recording and a list of names provided to Davis’ family members, and misreporting to the judge that Davis poses a threat to the public if he is released.
Davis “never threatened anyone during the phone calls,” deputy special public defenders Robert Arroyo and Charles Cano said in their seven-page filing. “Furthermore, (prosecutors’) interpretation of the use of ‘green light’ is flat-out wrong.”
The “green light” reference is from a recording of an October jail call that prosecutors Marc DiGiacomo and Binu Palal provided last month to Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny.
“Duane’s son was saying he heard there was a greenlight on Duane’s family,” the attorneys wrote, using Davis’ first name. “Duane obviously did not know what his son was talking about.”
Arroyo and Cano declined Monday to comment about the filing.
The court filing made no reference to Davis instructing anyone to harm someone, or to anyone associated with the case being physically harmed. But the prosecutors added that, “In (Davis’) world, a ‘green light’ is an authorization to kill.”
Davis’ lawyers on Monday also used Davis’ first name asking Kierny to consider what they called “the obvious question.”
“If Duane is so dangerous, and the evidence so overwhelming,” they wrote, “why did (police and prosecutors) wait 15 years to arrest Duane for the murder of Tupac Shakur?”
Prosecutors point to Davis’ own words since 2008 — in police interviews, in a 2019 tell-all memoir and in the media — that they say provides strong evidence that he orchestrated the September 1996 shooting.
Davis’ attorneys argue that his descriptions of Shakur’s killing were “done for entertainment purposes and to make money.”
Davis, originally from Compton, California, is the only person still alive who was in the car from which shots were fired in the drive-by shooting that also wounded rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight. Knight is now serving 28 years in a California prison for an unrelated fatal shooting in the Los Angeles area in 2015.
Davis’ attorneys noted Monday that Knight is an eyewitness to the Shakur shooting but did not testify before the grand jury that indicted Davis ahead of his arrest arrest Sept. 29 outside his Henderson home. Las Vegas police had served a search warrant at the house in mid-July.
Davis has pleaded not guilty and has remained jailed without bail at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, where detainees’ phone calls are routinely recorded. If convicted at trial, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Arroyo and Cano have argued their 60-year-old client is in poor health after a battle with cancer that is in remission and won’t flee to avoid trial. They’re asking Kierny to set bail at not more than $100,000.
Davis maintains he was given immunity from prosecution in 2008 by an FBI and Los Angeles police task force investigating the killings of Shakur in Las Vegas and rival rapper Christopher Wallace, known as The Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, six months later in Los Angeles.
DiGiacomo and Palal say any immunity agreement was limited. Last week, they submitted to the court an audio recording of a Dec. 18, 2008, task force interview during which they said Davis “was specifically told that what he said in the room would not be used against him, but (that) if he were talk to other people, that could put him in jeopardy.”
Davis’ attorneys responded Monday with a reference to the publication 12 years ago of a book written by former Los Angeles police Detective Greg Kading, who attended those interviews.
“Duane is not worried,” the attorneys said, “because his alleged involvement in the death of Shakur has been out in the public since ... 2011.”
veryGood! (2812)
Related
- NFL Week 10 winners, losers: Cowboys' season can no longer be saved
- Lainey Wilson’s career felt like a ‘Whirlwind.’ On her new album, she makes sense of life and love
- 'Tiger King' made us feel bad. 'Chimp Crazy' should make us feel worse: Review
- NASCAR Cup race at Michigan: Tyler Reddick pulls away with narrow win
- Brands Our Editors Are Thankful For in 2024
- What do grocery ‘best by’ labels really mean?
- Rosie O’Donnell’s Son Blake O'Donnell Marries Teresa Garofalow Westervelt
- Federal government grants first floating offshore wind power research lease to Maine
- Elon Musk says 'SNL' is 'so mad' Trump won as he slams Dana Carvey's impression
- Recapping the explosive 'Love Island USA' reunion: Lies, broken hearts, more
Ranking
- Wicked Director Jon M. Chu Reveals Name of Baby Daughter After Missing Film's LA Premiere for Her Birth
- Budget-Friendly Back-to-School Makeup Picks Under $25
- Matthew Perry's Doctors Lose Prescription Credentials Amid Ketamine Case
- Paul Mescal Seemingly Confirms Romance With Gracie Abrams During London Outings
- Who will be in the top 12? Our College Football Playoff ranking projection
- The top 10 Heisman Trophy contenders entering the college football season
- 1 person is killed and 5 others are wounded during a bar shooting in Mississippi’s capital
- D.C. councilman charged with bribery in scheme to extend $5.2 million in city contracts
Recommendation
-
Hill House Home’s Once-A-Year Sale Is Here: Get 30% off Everything & up to 75% off Luxury Dresses
-
Haitian ex-President Martelly hit with U.S. sanctions, accused of facilitating drug trade
-
DNC comes to 'Little Palestine' as Gaza deaths top 40,000
-
Ruff and tumble: Great Pyrenees wins Minnesota town's mayoral race in crowded field
-
Brianna LaPaglia Addresses Zach Bryan's Deafening Silence After Emotional Abuse Allegations
-
In Wisconsin Senate Race, Voters Will Pick Between Two Candidates With Widely Differing Climate Views
-
Who is Mike Lynch? A look at the British tech tycoon missing from a sunken yacht in Sicily
-
Charges dropped against man accused of fatally shooting a pregnant woman at a Missouri mall