Tupac murder suspect denied bail again, trial postponed to 2025

A judge has Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a suspect in the Tupac Shakur murder case, has again been denied bail due to doubts about the origin of the bail money.

At a hearing in July, Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny rejected a $112,500 deposit to secure Davis' $750,000 bail, pointing out that the payment – allegedly from music executive Cash “Wack 100” Jones – was contingent on an exclusive interview with Davis. Kierny also worried that Davis would have little incentive to comply with orders and appear in court if the bail payment was a “gift” coming from an outside entertainment company rather than a family connection.

Another hearing on the matter was held on Tuesday, where Davis' legal team attempted to present evidence that the bail payment was legitimate and legal. However, Kierny pointed out that the two letters presented to the court were written identically and that there were problems with the signatories in both letters: one letter was signed by a person with no known ties to Wack 100's production company, and the other letter was signed with a misspelled name and contained an address that matched a doctor's office. Related Press reported.

Given these problems, Davis's attorney, Carl Arnold, admitted in court that a bail bondsman had copied and pasted the two letters, which prosecutors pointed out could potentially lead to charges against the bail bondsman, as submitting a false document to a court is a felony.

“I feel like there are attempts to cover things up,” Kierny added.

Prosecutors, who would prefer Davis remain behind bars until trial, had already argued in July that Nevada law does not allow criminals to profit from their crimes. Davis would essentially do this by making himself available for an exclusive interview with “Wack 100” in exchange for paying bail. But Davis's attorney, Arnold, argued that this law does not apply because Davis has not yet been convicted of a crime.

Davis' trial on charges of murder with a deadly weapon in connection with Shakur's 1996 killing was scheduled to begin in November, but at Tuesday's hearing the judge pushed the trial date back to March 17, 2025.