No gun, no car, no living witnesses against man charged in Tupac Shakur killing, defense lawyer says

1 of 15 |

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, right, speaks with attorney Ross Goodman in court Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Las Vegas. Davis has been charged with killing Tupac Shakur in 1996. (AP Photo/John Locher, Pool)

2 of 15 |

Duane “Keffe D” Davis appears in court Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Las Vegas. Davis has been charged with killing Tupac Shakur in 1996. (AP Photo/John Locher, Pool)

3 of 15 |

Duane “Keffe D” Davis arrives in court Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Las Vegas. Davis has been charged with killing Tupac Shakur in 1996. (AP Photo/John Locher, Pool)

4 of 15 |

Duane “Keffe D” Davis appears in court Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Las Vegas. Davis has been charged with killing Tupac Shakur in 1996. (AP Photo/John Locher, Pool)

5 of 15 |

Duane “Keffe D” Davis walks out after a court apperance Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Las Vegas. Davis has been charged with killing Tupac Shakur in 1996. (AP Photo/John Locher, Pool)

6 of 15 |

Duane “Keffe D” Davis walks out after a court apperance Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Las Vegas. Davis has been charged with killing Tupac Shakur in 1996. (AP Photo/John Locher, Pool)

7 of 15 |

8 of 15 |

9 of 15 |

Duane “Keffe D” Davis arrives in court Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Las Vegas. Davis has been charged with killing Tupac Shakur in 1996. (AP Photo/John Locher, Pool)

10 of 15 |

Duane “Keffe D” Davis appears in court Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Las Vegas. Davis has been charged with killing Tupac Shakur in 1996. (AP Photo/John Locher, Pool)

11 of 15 |

FILE -Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Chris Lammons, center, arrives in court with his attorney Ross Goodman for an arraignment in Las Vegas, March 2, 2023. Goodman said Wednesday, Oct. 18, he’ll appear in Duane “Keffe D” Davis defense against accusations that Davis orchestrated the drive-by killing of Tupac, the rap music icon. Davis won’t immediately enter a plea, and Goodman said he’ll seek another two weeks to confirm that he’ll be hired for Davis’ case. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, File)

12 of 15 |

FILE - This photo provided by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shows the bullet-riddled car in which rapper Tupac Shakur was fatally shot in September 1996, in Las Vegas. Duane “Keffe D” Davis charged with killing Tupac Shakur in 1996 will have a lawyer from one of Las Vegas’ best-known political families with him when he appears in court Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, on a murder charge. Ross Goodman said Wednesday, Oct. 18, he’ll appear with Davis but will seek two more weeks to confirm as his attorney. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via AP, Fle)

13 of 15 |

FILE - Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill speaks during a news conference on an indictment in the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur, Sept. 29, 2023, in Las Vegas. Duane “Keffe D” Davis charged with killing Tupac Shakur in 1996 will have a lawyer from one of Las Vegas’ best-known political families with him when he appears in court Thursday, Oct. 19, on a murder charge. Ross Goodman said Wednesday, Oct. 18, he’ll appear with Davis but will seek two more weeks to confirm as his attorney. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

14 of 15 |

FILE - Rapper Tupac Shakur attends a voter registration event in South Central Los Angeles, Aug. 15, 1996. Duane “Keffe D” Davis charged with killing Tupac Shakur in 1996 will have a lawyer from one of Las Vegas’ best-known political families with him when he appears in court Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, on a murder charge. Ross Goodman said Wednesday, Oct. 18, he’ll appear with Davis but will seek two more weeks to confirm as his attorney. (AP Photo/Frank Wiese, File)

15 of 15 |

This booking photo provided by the Las Vegas Police Department shows Duane “Keffe D” Davis, Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, in Las Vegas. Davis was charged in the 1996 fatal drive-by shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur. (Las Vegas Police Department via AP)

By KEN RITTER

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A lawyer speaking for the former street gang leader charged with killing Tupac Shakur in 1996 said Thursday he sees “obvious defenses” in the murder case in Las Vegas.

“There’s no gun, there’s no car and there’s no witnesses from 27 years ago,” attorney Ross Goodman told reporters after the briefest of court hearings, at which he told a Nevada judge he was close to being hired to represent Duane “Keffe D” Davis.

Clark County District Judge Tierra Jones gave Davis and Goodman two weeks to reach agreement, saying she wants to “get this case moving.” She reset Davis’ arraignment for Nov. 2.

Goodman told reporters that although he doesn’t yet represent Davis, he expects Davis will plead not guilty and seek release from jail pending trial. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson did not respond to messages about Goodman’s comments.

The Latest Movie Reviews

This image released by Warner Bros Pictures shows Michael B. Jordan portraying two characters in a scene from "Sinners." (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

Movie Review: Michael B. Jordan has double duty in Ryan Coogler’s pulsating, vein-bursting ‘Sinners’

★★★★

This image released by Bleecker Street shows Han Gi-Chan, background, Bowen Yang in a scene from "The Wedding Banquet." (Bleecker Street via AP)

Movie Review: Bowen Yang leads a heartfelt dramedy about found families in ‘The Wedding Banquet’

★★★★

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Brandon Sklenar, left, and Meghann Fahy in a scene from "Drop." (Universal Pictures via AP)

Movie Review: ‘Drop’ doesn’t phone it in

★★★★

Davis, 60, is being held at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas without bail. He is originally from Compton, California.

He was arrested Sept. 29 outside a home in suburban Henderson where Goodman said he has lived for more than a decade. Davis told police that he moved there in January because his wife was involved in opening grocery stores in Nevada.

Davis is accused of orchestrating and enabling a drive-by shooting that killed Shakur and wounded rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight after a brawl at a Las Vegas Strip casino involving Shakur and Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson.

In interviews and a 2019 tell-all memoir that described his life as a leader of a Crips gang sect in Compton, Davis said he obtained a .40-caliber handgun and handed it to Anderson in the back seat of a car from which he and authorities say shots were fired at Shakur and Knight in another car at an intersection near the Las Vegas Strip. Davis didn’t identify Anderson as the shooter.

Shakur died a week later at age 25 in a nearby hospital. Knight was wounded but survived. Now 58, Knight is serving a 28-year prison sentence for the death of a Compton businessman in 2015.

Anderson denied involvement in Shakur’s death and died in a May 1998 at age 23 in a shooting in Compton. The other two men in the car are also dead.

A Las Vegas police detective testified to a grand jury that police do not have the gun that was used to shoot at Shakur and Knight, nor did they find the vehicle from which shots were fired.