With jury selection in the long awaited Tupac Shakur murder trial scheduled to begin on Aug. 10, Duane “Keefe D” Davis’ defense team is making one final push to have the case thrown out before it reaches a jury.
Davis’ attorney, Mike Sanft, has filed a motion seeking dismissal of the murder charge, arguing that the Clark County District Attorney’s Office failed to build a case supported by sufficient evidence. Speaking with The U.S. Sun, Sanft said prosecutors should have never charged his client and went as far as saying law enforcement owes Davis a written apology.
According to Sanft, the prosecution’s case relies heavily on statements Davis made over the years during media interviews, conversations with investigators and in his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend. However, the defense now contends those remarks were never admissions of guilt, but exaggerated stories intended to generate publicity and promote book sales.
Sanft argued that while some of Davis’ comments may have been “not in good taste,” they were protected speech under the First Amendment and should not be treated as evidence of criminal responsibility.
The defense also addressed recent speculation that prosecutors had extended a plea offer that would have reduced Davis’ potential prison sentence. Sanft flatly denied that any plea agreement had been presented, adding that he would not advise his client to accept anything short of a complete dismissal of the case.
If convicted, Davis faces life in prison. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson has previously said prosecutors will seek a life sentence rather than the death penalty.
As one of the most closely watched criminal cases in Hip Hop history, selecting an impartial jury is expected to be one of the trial’s biggest challenges. The unsolved killing of Tupac Shakur on Sept. 13, 1996, has remained the subject of decades of documentaries, books, podcasts and conspiracy theories, creating an enormous pool of potential jurors already familiar with the case.
“In picking a jury, the number one promise that we expect from our jurors is that they will be fair and impartial to both the state, as well as Duane, and that they will reserve their judgment until the close of the evidence on the case is then given to them,” Sanft said.
He also emphasized that he has no intention of litigating the case through the media.
“I have an ethical duty to never try my case in the media prior to the jury being picked and sequestered,” Sanft added.
For years, Davis’ public statements also fueled speculation that Sean “Diddy” Combs had offered $1 million to orchestrate Shakur’s killing during the height of the East Coast West Coast rivalry. Combs has repeatedly denied those allegations and has never been charged in connection with Shakur’s murder. Sanft likewise declined to address the credibility of those claims as the trial approaches.
Instead, the defense is expected to focus on challenging the prosecution’s evidence and arguing that investigators built their case around statements Davis now says were never true.
Nearly three decades after one of Hip Hop’s most infamous murders, the criminal case against Keefe D is finally headed toward trial, where a jury will ultimately decide whether prosecutors have enough evidence to secure a conviction.
