Keefe D (whose real name is Duane Davis) will face trial on June 3, 2024 for the murder of the rap icon 2Pac, who died from a gunshot wound in Las Vegas in September 1996 after a Mike Tyson fight.
Keefe D denied the charge in court on Tuesday (November 7) with his public defender lawyers, and will stay in jail until the trial next summer.
Keefe D’s lawyers, Charles Cano and Robert Arroyo, said they plan to ask for bail for their client before the trial, but did not give any more details about the case when questioned outside court.
Prosecutors will not pursue the death penalty for Keefe D if he is found guilty, even though Nevada allows capital punishment.
Keefe D, who is now 60 and says he has cancer, is the only one who has ever been arrested for the murder of 2Pac, which happened in September.
Keefe D has admitted to being behind the shooting of 2Pac several times over the years, including in his 2019 book Compton Street Legend, where he described the event.
According to Nevada prosecutors, 2Pac had a fight with Orlando Anderson, a known Crips gang member and Keefe D’s nephew, at a casino on the night of the shooting.
Anderson was allegedly in the car with Keefe D when they shot at 2Pac, and some sources say he was the shooter. He died in another gang shooting in 1998.
The shooting of 2Pac also injured Suge Knight, the co-founder of Death Row Records, who is currently in prison for 28 years for voluntary manslaughter.
Knight spoke about Keefe D’s arrest in a prison interview with TMZ, saying that he would not testify against him if he had to during the trial.
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“I was surprised, first of all,” Knight said when asked how he felt about Keefe’s arrest. “Because I never thought Keefe D would get arrested, and I don’t want him to get arrested.
“Let me make this clear, first and foremost: me and Keefe D were on the same Pop Warner football team. And whatever happened — if he was involved in anything, if he wasn’t involved in anything, I wouldn’t want anyone to go to prison, even my worst enemy.”
