The man charged in the 1996 shooting death of Tupac Shakur has broken his silence for the first time since his arrest two years ago. In a jailhouse interview with ABC News, defendant Duane “Keffe D” Davis continued to claim his innocence.
Davis is charged with first-degree murder for his alleged role in Shakur’s shooting death. He’s pleaded not guilty and has been held without bail since his arrest in September 2023.
“I’m innocent. I ain’t killed nobody, never did ever kill nobody,” Davis said in the hour-long meeting at the Clark County Detention Center. According to ABC, the defendant painted a soft image of himself, saying he should be at home, tending to his garden and taking care of his grandchildren. “I’m supposed to be out there enjoying my twilight at one of my fucking grandson’s football games, and basketball games. Enjoying life with my kids,” he said. Davis called himself a “good man” and claimed he had left the drug dealing game he was once involved in.
Prosecutors have argued that Davis was a longtime member and leader of group within the Compton, California Crips street gang. According to his indictment, prosecutors argued that Davis orchestrated Shakur’s murder and provided the .40-caliber Glock. Authorities claim the murder was retaliation after Shakur got into a physical altercation with Crip gang member Orlando Anderson inside a casino after a Mike Tyson fight on Sept. 6, 1996, hours before the deadly shooting.
In the jailhouse interview, Davis addressed his past incriminating statements, interviews, and memoir which helped the prosecution bring the first-degree murder charges against him. “I’ve never read the book,” the defendant said, referring to his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, which detailed the Crips member’s alleged involvement in Shakur’s murder. Davis claims the co-author took artistic liberties with his life story. “I just gave him details of my life. And he went and did his little investigation and wrote the book on his own.”
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In addition to the memoir, Davis also spoke to the media in past interviews and would often refer to unique knowledge about Shakur’s murder. “I shouldn’t have said nothing. I’m innocent, man,” Davis told ABC.
Additionally, he addressed his recently revealed alibi. “They don’t have no evidence against me. They can’t even put me in Las Vegas,” Davis said, claiming he couldn’t have committed Shakur’s murder on the Vegas Strip because he was not in Nevada at the time of the shooting in September 1996, and instead, was 300 miles away in Los Angeles, which is more than a four-hour car ride.
Davis’ claims reiterate arguments from the motion his defense filed in February to postpone the trial, citing new witness testimony from a private investigator could provide an alibi for the defendant, proving he was in L.A. and not Las Vegas at the time. In February, the trial was pushed to 2026 following the emergence of new evidence. Davis’ trial was originally set for this month.
The motion also claimed that new evidence had come out that could prove someone else orchestrated Shakur’s killing. Davis also referred to this in his ABC interview. “Prove that I orchestrated this. Your key witness orchestrated this. The top witness is the lead suspect,” he said, referring to Reggie White Jr. who was a security guard for Shakur’s infamous record producer Suge Knight. On the night of Shakur’s murder, White was driving the car in which Shakur was shot. White has denied any involvement in the murder.
Now, with the new trial date set and more time to review the new evidence, Davis is looking forward to proving his innocence and getting out of jail. “God got my back, and God will see me through this,” Davis said. “He had my back with cancer, I survived the streets, and the FBI. That’s a big accomplishment for a man from Compton.”
