Photo: The Canadian Press Duane "Keffe D" Davis, who is accused of orchestrating the 1996 slaying of Tupac Shakur, appears in court during a bond hearing at the Regional Justice Center Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool) A judge on Tuesday again rejected a request to free an ailing former Los Angeles-area gang leader ahead of his murder trial in the 1996 killing of hip-hop star Tupac Shakur, saying she suspects a cover-up related to the source of the funds for his bond.
The decision from Clark District Court Judge Carli Kierny came after an attorney for Duane “Keffe D” Davis said he would provide additional records to prove that the music record executive offering to underwrite Davis' $750,000 bail had obtained the money legally. But Kierny said she was skeptical after receiving two identical letters apparently from an entertainment company that Cash “Wack 100” Jones says wired him the funds as payment for his work. One letter was signed with a name that has no ties to the company, the judge said, while the second letter included a misspelled name and a return address tied to a doctor's office.
“I have a sense that things are trying to be covered up,” Kierny said. The hearing took a turn when Davis' lawyer, Carl Arnold, told the judge that the bail bond agent used by Davis had provided the entertainment company with copy-and-paste instructions on the language for the letters and could therefore testify ab.