Jury selected in Tupac Shakur murder suspect’s battery trial
Tupac Shakur murder suspect Duane ‘Keefe D’ Davis was indicted earlier this year on battery by a prisoner counts and challenging someone to a fight. Prosecutors claimed he and another inmate, Rochlon Hamilton, hit each other during an incident at the Clark County Detention Center on December 23rd, 2024.
Davis is the man accused of orchestrating the murder of Tupac near the Las Vegas Strip in 1996 in response to a fight involving the rapper and his nephew. In March, his murder trial was pushed back to February 9th, 2026, after the defence team asked for more time to interview witnesses.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, jury selection for the battery trial occurred on April 8th. District Judge Nadia Krall asked potential jurors about their knowledge of Davis and told them not to check the news until reaching a verdict. Jurors didn’t indicate they knew Davis or had heard about his murder case.
Juror candidates told the court about relatives accused of crimes while revealing crimes committed against them, such as robbery at gunpoint and car theft. One man, who was excused, said he believes people accused of a crime should prove their innocence. “I come from the old school, where guilty is guilty,” he said.
The jury was selected in about five hours. The case could conclude on April 9th, with Davis not expected to testify. Davis wanted to delay the case before jurors arrived, but the judge rejected his request.
Davis’ lawyer, Carl Arnold, previously claimed he was attacked first and “acted solely in self-defence” while alleging “glaring security failures” at the prison. “The inmate who attacked Mr Davis was unsupervised and placed in his direct path during escort, despite Mr Davis being housed in a high-security unit due to his status as a high-profile detainee,” he said.
Arnold also questioned “the motivations behind the prosecution,” as the charges weren’t filed until weeks after the incident.