Keefe D Pleads Not Guilty in Tupac Murder Trial

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After his surprising arrest for the murder of Tupac Shakur, Duane Keith Davis, a.k.a. Keefe D, has pleaded not guilty. Keefe D was arraigned in Clark County District Court in Nevada on November 2, according to the Associated Press. Also at the hearing, a judge appointed two special public defenders, Robert Arroyo and Charles Cano, to represent the notorious gangster. They had no comment to media, per KTNV. Keefe D has meanwhile been trying to hire high-profile defense attorney Ross Goodman, which has delayed the case. After a previous hearing, Goodman criticized prosecutors’ lack of evidence, saying, “There’s no gun, there’s no car, and there’s no witnesses from 27 years ago.”

Prosecutors will not be seeking the death penalty. District Attorney Steve Wolfson told media after the new hearing that Keefe D’s was “not the kind of case” that merits the death penalty, without elaborating. Keefe D is currently being held without bail. His next hearing, to schedule the trial, is set for November 7.

Keefe D was arrested on September 29, 27 years after Tupac’s killing in a drive-by shooting. At the time, prosecutors said he “ordered the death” of the influential rapper, as a high-ranking member of the South Side Compton Crips. Keefe D had long been tied to the shooting but has only spoken publicly about it in recent years, describing himself as the only surviving witness. (He did not claim to have pulled the trigger, and prosecutors did not argue this.) Police have said Keefe D’s public statements spurred them to revisit the case, leading to a search of his home executed earlier this year.

Tupac’s sister, Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, previously said Keefe D’s arrest “is no doubt a pivotal moment” after years of no movement on the case. “It’s important to me that the world, the country, the justice system, and our people acknowledge the gravity of the passing of this man, my brother, my mother’s son, my father’s son,” said Set, who is also president of the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation. “His life and death matter and should not go unsolved or unrecognized, so yes, today is a victory but I will reserve judgment until all the facts and legal proceedings are complete.”