Defendant in Tupac killing back in court, but still not released

A judge continued to raise concerns Tuesday about the source of bail money for the man accused of orchestrating the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 61, who has been indicted on a murder charge, is being held at the Clark County Detention Center on $750,000 bail.

In June, a man named Cash Jones testified he paid a $112,500 bond premium to get Davis out of jail.

But District Judge Carli Kierny said she wanted to ensure the bond was not posted with proceeds from talking about the slaying of Shakur. She rejected Davis’ attempt to get out of jail.

Since then, Davis has continued to seek bail. His attorney, Carl Arnold, argued that a law preventing someone from profiting from a killing does not apply to Davis, because he has not been convicted of Shakur’s murder.

Prosecutors disagreed.

Kierny denied the request to reconsider bail on Tuesday and said she was still skeptical of Davis’ efforts to seek bail.

“I sense that things are trying to be covered up,” she said.

Continuing bail issues

Kierny said she previously took the motion to reconsider under advisement, then requested additional information and confirmation that Jones’ money came from previous work. She received a letter from an entertainment company saying the $112, 500 payment was in response to a June invoice. The letter was signed by an “Adam W.”

She had a law clerk reach out to a number and email on the letter.

“We never received a response,” she said.

On August 2, Kierny received another letter, she said, purportedly from a person at the entertainment company, but with the person’s name misspelled and an address for a doctor’s office. That letter had the same phrasing as the “Adam W.” letter.

Kierny’s law clerk eventually reached the woman whose name was on the letter, she said, but the woman claimed no “Adam W.” worked at the company and said she didn’t know who sent the first letter.

The woman said a bail bonds company called Smiley Bail Bonds told her what to write, Kierny said.

“I still have a lot of concerns about what has been sent to me and that’s why I haven’t issued any further orders,” Kierny said.

Arnold said it also was his understanding that Smiley Face Bail Bonds put together the letter. He suggested autocorrect might have changed “Admin” to “Adam.” And he argued that nothing suggests the money came from drugs, gangs or anything nefarious.

No one wants to be connected to giving money to bail out Davis, he said. He claimed that since Jones testified in court, he’s received death threats. Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal said he would advise the bondsman not to testify. It seems he submitted a false letter to the court, which is a felony, he said.

“That will not go uninvestigated,” he said.

Smiley Face Bail Bonds did not respond to requests for comment.

New allegation and trial date

Davis’ trial was initially scheduled for November 4, but Kierny reset it to March 17 at Arnold’s request.

At the end of the hearing, Davis, who was present in court, claimed that he was assaulted by two deputies in jail. “They brutally beat me up,” he said.

Kierny said those were serious allegations. She said she could hold a hearing on that topic if Arnold filed something.

Palal declined to respond to that claim after the hearing. “I’m not going to entertain that,” he said.

The Metropolitan Police Department, whose officers staff the jail, said in a statement that corrections officers were conducting a routine search of Davis’ cell on August 9 at about 8:30 a.m. when they found contrabrand in his cell.

“Davis became physically uncooperative and was subsequently handcuffed,” Metro said. “Davis declined medical attention and officers documented the encounter. At no point did Davis complain of injury.”

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.