Duane “Keffe D” Davis, the only person charged in the Las Vegas killing of Tupac Shakur, is maintaining his innocence in his first jailhouse interview since he was arrested in September 2023.
The 61-year-old former Crips member, who has also been questioned in relation to the 1997 slaying of Shakur’s East Coast rival Biggie Smalls, spoke to ABC News from Clark County Detention Center, insisting “I’m innocent.”
Authorities claim Davis was the brains behind Shakur’s slaying, which took place on September 7, 1996, near the Las Vegas strip following a boxing event. Death Row Records CEO Marion “Suge” Knight was driving the Harlem-born West Coast rapper at the time of the shooting. Tupac died the following week. He was 25.
“I did not do it,” said Davis, who insists he was home “in Los Angeles” on the night in question.
“They don’t have nothing. And they know they don’t have nothing. They can’t even place me out here. They don’t have no gun, no car, no Keffe D, no nothing.”
According to Davis, that “nothing” includes his memoir, “Compton Street Legend,” in which he cops to his purported role in the hit.
“I just gave [his co-author] details of my life,” said Davis, who claims he never read the book, let alone wrote it. “And he went and did his little investigation and wrote the book on his own.”
Davis first told authorities in 2008 that he allegedly took part in Shakur’s killing. He shared the information as part of a “proffer agreement” — meaning he couldn’t be prosecuted for that information — with the joint-federal Los Angeles task force that had initiated a sting to get information on the death of Notorious B.I.G.
In 2009, Davis disclosed his alleged role to Las Vegas authorities, who the outlet reports are not linked to the prior proffer agreement, nor are they obligated to honor it.
He once again detailed his purported role in a 2018 docuseries and in “Compton Street Legends,” which Davis asserts he did for money and to keep others from having to serve time.
“I did everything (authorities) asked me to do. Get new friends. Stop selling drugs. I stopped all that,” said Davis, who is slated to stand trial early next year. “I’m supposed to be out there enjoying my twilight at one of my f–king grandson’s football games, and basketball games. Enjoying life with my kids.”
In January of this year, a Nevada judge upheld the murder charge against Davis.
