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A 12 months and a half after being arrested for the homicide of rap icon Tupac Shakur, the person being charged with the crime has proclaimed his innocence in a brand new interview from jail. Regardless of repeatedly associating himself with the evening in query, he’s now trying to distance himself from public statements he’s made.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis was charged with Tupac’s homicide in 2023, almost 30 years after the rapper and actor was killed. He spoke to ABC Information from jail this week as he awaits trial, giving his first public feedback for the reason that arrest. He says that earlier incriminating statements he’s made had been lies and that he wasn’t even in the identical metropolis on the time of the assault.
“I didn’t do it,” Davis mentioned in an hour-long dialog with ABC. “[Prosecutors] don’t don’t have anything. And so they know they don’t don’t have anything. They’ll’t even place me out right here. They don’t don’t have any gun, no automotive, no Keffe D, no nothing.”
Tupac’s demise in 1996 in Las Vegas, Nevada, has been probably the most impactful moments in hip-hop’s historical past, and the homicide has gone unsolved — regardless of numerous documentaries and information tales being devoted to the incident. Davis, a former member of the Crips gang, has been publicly related to Shakur’s demise for years earlier than formally dealing with felony prices, giving accounts of the incident to police, the press, and in a memoir referred to as Compton Road Legend.
Davis was busted in a drug operation sting in 2008, as a activity pressure consisting of each federal and Los Angeles officers was on the lookout for data on the California homicide of Christopher “The Infamous B.I.G.” Wallace in 1997. He reportedly provided data on his involvement in Tupac’s homicide as an alternative, below a “proffer settlement,” which was presupposed to legally defend him from being prosecuted for what he shared.
“I’m not even presupposed to be in jail,” he advised ABC. “A deal is a deal.”
However talking publicly concerning the homicide gave new life to the case, and in response to former LAPD detective Greg Kading, jeopardized the protections afforded within the proffer settlement. In quite a few public interviews and his e book, whereas refusing to call the gunmen themselves, Davis locations himself within the automotive with Tupac’s murderers.
In Davis’ interview with ABC, he claimed that he was truly a whole lot of miles away in Los Angeles the evening of the assault and mentioned that “20 or 30 individuals (are) going to come back” to courtroom who will again up his story. He additionally says that his earlier confessions to police had been lies to guard others who had been concerned within the drug case.
“That’s the one means you’re strolling free. It could’ve been egocentric to let all people go down due to me,” he mentioned. As for his statements to the press: “They paid me to say that.” When asked concerning the e book along with his identify on the duvet, Davis says that he by no means learn it himself and that his co-author used tales that Davis advised him and took unapproved artistic liberties.
Supply: L. Busacca / Getty
Davis claims that the “lead suspect” within the case must be Reggie Wright Jr., a former Compton police officer who ran safety for Dying Row Information, Tupac’s former report label (Wright has denied these accusations in a earlier interview). He provides that within the years for the reason that homicide he’s saved on the straight and slim, solely to be arrested for a criminal offense he says he didn’t commit.
“I did all the things they requested me to do. Get new pals. Cease promoting medicine. I ended all that,” he mentioned. “I’m presupposed to be on the market having fun with my twilight at one in every of my fu**ing grandson’s soccer video games and basketball video games. Having fun with life with my children.”
Opting to money in on the fascination round Tupac’s demise might have appeared like a good suggestion to Davis, particularly if he believed there wouldn’t be any penalties for doing so after 20 years. However going again on years of private and non-private statements goes to be an uphill battle. Nonetheless, solely time will inform if prosecutors will land a conviction with the extra proof and supporting accounts they declare they’ve obtained.
The trial is predicted to start in 11 months.
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Tupac ‘2Pac’ Shakur Died 26 Years In the past In the present day