Duane “Keffe D” Davis dismissed court-appointed lawyers and hired veteran criminal defense attorney Carl Arnold, who said his office anticipated “Mr. Davis being found not guilty at the conclusion of his trial.”
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A former Los Angeles-area gang leader jailed in Las Vegas in the 1996 killing of hip-hop music icon Tupac Shakur has hired a private attorney who pointed Monday to what he expects will be a historic
Arnold said his client “cannot be convicted solely on the basis of his confession,” and that prosecutors will have to provide corroborating evidence to prove Davis’ guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Davis was indicted by a grand jury in Las Vegas and arrested in September outside his home in suburban Henderson. He has pleaded not guilty and remains jailed on $750,000 bail ahead of a Feb. 20 status check in the case.
If he posts bail, Davis will be on house arrest with strict electronic monitoring. It was not immediately clear if changing lawyers will delay his current trial date, June 3.
Davis maintains he was given immunity from prosecution in 2008 by an FBI and Los Angeles police task force investigating the killings of Shakur in Las Vegas and rival rapper Christopher Wallace, known as The Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, six months later in Los Angeles.
Arroyo and Cano argued that police and prosecutors could have arrested Davis 15 years ago but didn’t, that he is in poor health after battling cancer, which is in remission, and that he would not flee to avoid trial.
His former lawyers also noted that prosecutors do not have the gun and the car involved in the Shakur shooting, and they downplayed the credibility of former gang members as witnesses against Davis.
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