Duane “Keffe D” Davis, the only person ever charged in the 1996 murder of rap legend Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas, has been denied his request to have the murder case against him dismissed. On Tuesday, Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny ruled from the bench that Davis would not be protected from prosecution, as he failed to provide concrete proof of immunity agreements he claims to have made years ago with both federal and local authorities during his time in California. Davis and his lawyer, Carl Arnold, argued that the charges should not have been filed due to these alleged immunity deals. Arnold further contended that the indictment against Davis, who is now 61, represented a grave violation of his constitutional rights, particularly because of the 27-year delay in prosecuting the case. However, Judge Kierny stated that there was no evidence to suggest the delay was intentional.

After the ruling, Arnold indicated that they would decide in the coming days whether to appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court. While Davis’ trial is currently set for March 17, it may be postponed depending on whether his legal team moves forward with an appeal. Davis has pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder charge and remains incarcerated in Las Vegas.

Prosecutors assert that the evidence against Davis is substantial, which includes Davis’ own accounts of the 1996 shooting in his memoir. Davis, an ex-gang leader, is accused of orchestrating the shooting near the Las Vegas Strip that resulted in the death of Tupac Shakur shortly after an altercation at a casino involving Shakur and Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson. Davis hails from Compton, California, and was arrested in September 2023 near Las Vegas, almost three decades after the shooting, which remains one of the most perplexing and talked-about events in hip-hop history.

In interviews and his 2019 memoir, Davis, who was a leader of a Crips gang faction in Compton, described how he obtained a .40-caliber handgun and handed it over to Anderson, who was in the back seat of a car from which shots were fired at Shakur, who was traveling in another vehicle. Davis is currently the only surviving suspect in the case. Anderson had always denied his involvement in the shooting before his death in 1998. Additionally, two other men who were in the car with Anderson and Davis are also deceased.

Tupac Shakur, who was just 25 years old at the time of his death, was on the verge of even greater success with his fourth solo album, “All Eyez on Me,” still climbing the charts, having sold around 5 million copies. A six-time Grammy-nominated artist, Shakur is widely regarded as one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time, and his untimely death remains a significant moment in the history of hip-hop.