Ex-gang leader seeks dismissal of charges in Tupac Shakur’s killing amid immunity claims

Duane Davis files motion to dismiss Tupac’s murder charges, citing immunity violations and 27-year prosecution delay.

Duane Davis, a former gang leader, has filed a motion to dismiss charges in the 1996 killing of rap icon Tupac Shakur. 

Davis’ attorney, Carl Arnold, submitted the motion on Monday in the District Court of Nevada, citing a 27-year delay in prosecution, insufficient evidence, and violations of immunity agreements previously granted to Davis by federal and local authorities.

“The prosecution has failed to justify a decades-long delay that has irreversibly prejudiced my client,” Arnold stated in a news release. He further criticized the prosecution for undermining the criminal justice system by allegedly disregarding immunity agreements.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson has previously defended the strength of the evidence against Davis, asserting that a jury should decide the credibility of Davis’s accounts.

Davis was arrested near Las Vegas in September 2023 and has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. Prosecutors allege Davis orchestrated the shooting that killed Shakur and injured Marion "Suge" Knight after a casino brawl involving Davis’s nephew, Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson.

The attack is linked to rivalries between East Coast Bloods and West Coast Crips, a theme prevalent in 1990s "gangsta rap." In interviews and a 2019 memoir, Davis admitted to acquiring the weapon used in the shooting but has not directly identified Anderson as the shooter.

Shakur, 25, died a week after the attack, while Knight survived and is serving a 28-year prison sentence for a separate case. Anderson, who denied involvement, was killed in a 1998 Compton shooting at age 23.

Law enforcement has not recovered the gun or the vehicle involved, complicating the case further. Decades later, the investigation into Shakur’s killing continues to captivate public interest as one of music history's most infamous mysteries.