The individual charged with murder in relation to the decades-old gang-related killing of rapper Tupac Shakur appeared in a U.S. courtroom once again on Thursday.
Duane “Keefe D” Davis, aged 60, faced charges last month in connection with the murder, even though he wasn’t the one holding the weapon in the 1996 Las Vegas incident.
Thursday’s scheduled proceeding was supposed to be an arraignment, following a prior delay.
However, defense attorney Ross Goodman requested another postponement, explaining that he was present to represent Davis but had not yet been officially retained for the case.
“I’m going to give you two weeks, but in two weeks we’ve got to get this case moving,” District Judge Tierra Jones told him.
At the arraignment, Davis will be required to formally respond to the charge of murder with a deadly weapon, aimed at promoting, furthering, or assisting a criminal gang.
Davis has openly admitted his role in the murder, proudly declaring himself as the “on-site commander” involved in the plot to assassinate Shakur and Marion “Suge” Knight, the head of Death Row Records, in retaliation for an attack on his nephew.
According to Nevada law, anyone who aids or abets a murder can face charges for the actual killing, much like how a getaway driver can be charged with a bank robbery even if they never entered the bank.
Shakur, the immensely popular hip-hop artist known for chart-toppers like “California Love,” “Changes,” and “Dear Mama,” held a prominent position in the rap world until he was fatally shot on September 7, 1996, at the age of 25.
He was under contract with Death Row Records, a label associated with the Los Angeles street gang Mob Piru at the time. This gang had a longstanding feud with the South Side Compton Crips, a group in which Davis played a significant role.
Prosecutors stated last month that the events of the night of the murder had been widely known for many years, but they lacked sufficient admissible evidence to proceed with the case.
Things started to change when Duane Davis, reportedly the only surviving witness to the crime, published an autobiography and spoke about it on a TV show.