A former gang member charged in the 1996 murder of hip-hop star Tupac Shakur pleaded not guilty on Thursday in a Las Vegas court.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 60, who police said was long suspected in the murder and began implicating himself in a series of public statements in recent years, responded “not guilty” when asked by Clark County district judge Tierra Jones if he wanted to enter a plea.
Davis was indicted in September by a Clark County grand jury and arrested in Las Vegas for Shakur’s drive-by shooting death, a long-unsolved crime that became a defining moment in the history of rap music.
Davis was charged with one count of murder with a deadly weapon for his alleged role in leading a group of men to kill Shakur in a drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas strip.
Shakur, widely regarded as one of rap music’s greatest artists, was also one of its most commercially successful, selling more than 75 million records worldwide.
Authorities said Davis orchestrated a plot to avenge the beating of his nephew, Orlando Anderson, inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena by Shakur and members of his entourage on the night of Sept. 7, 1996, just hours before the shooting.
Credit: Reuters
