Judge rules former crime boss accused of Tupac Shakur's murder will not be released on bail

A judge on Tuesday again rejected a request to release an ailing former Los Angeles-area gang leader ahead of his murder trial for the 1996 killing of hip-hop star Tupac Shakur, citing suspicions of a cover-up related to the origin of the funds for his bail.

The decision by Clark District Court Judge Carli Kierny came after an attorney for Duane “Keffe D” Davis said he would submit additional documents to prove that the record executive who offered to pay Davis' $750,000 bail received the money legally. But Kierny said she was skeptical after receiving two identical letters that appeared to be from an entertainment company that Cash “Wack 100” Jones said wired him the money as payment for his work.

One of the letters was signed with a name that had no connection to the company, the judge said, while the second letter contained a misspelled name and a return address associated with a doctor's office.

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

The hearing took a new turn when Davis' attorney, Carl Arnold, told the judge that the bail agent appointed by Davis had given the entertainment company instructions on the wording of the letters via copy-and-paste and could therefore testify about their legality.

In a scathing response, prosecutor Binu Palal said the bond trader may have committed a serious crime by submitting “a false document before this court”.

“The state is taking this very seriously,” he said. “Be aware that it will not go uninvestigated.”

Both Palal and Arnold declined to comment further.

Davis has been seeking release since his September 2023 arrest, making him the only person ever charged in one of hip-hop's most intractable mysteries. He has pleaded not guilty to premeditated murder.

Also on Tuesday, Kierny postponed the start of Davis' trial from November 4 to March 17.

Kierny had previously rejected Davis' offer to get Jones to raise $112,500 for his release on house arrest, adding to her concerns at the time about whether the couple planned to profit by selling Davis's life story.

Nevada has a law, also known as the “Slayer Statute,” that prohibits convicted murderers from profiting from their crimes.

Jones, who has managed artists such as Johnathan “Blueface” Porter and Jayceon “The Game” Taylor, testified in June that he wanted to help Davis because he was battling cancer and “has always been a prominent figure in our community … especially in the urban community.”

Davis himself has said in interviews and in his 2019 memoir that he is the only surviving suspect in connection with the fatal shooting of Shakur nearly 28 years ago at a traffic light near the Las Vegas Strip.

Authorities believe the shooting stemmed from a competition between members of an East Coast Bloods gang sect and groups of a West Coast Crips sect, including Davis, for dominance in a genre then known as “gangsta rap.”