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A judge has ruled that a past police interview with Duane Davis, also known as "Keefe D," may be used as evidence in the upcoming 2Pac murder trial.
During a hearing on Tuesday, July 28, Judge Carli Kierny decided that an interview police conducted with Davis in 2008 is admissible for his upcoming trial. During the interview, Davis reportedly told police that he was in the vehicle that pulled up next to the late rapper and Death Row Records founder Suge Knight. He also alleged that he saw his nephew, Orlando Anderson, fire the weapon from the backseat.
Knight and 2Pac, also known as Tupac Shakur, were struck by bullets several times. Knight survived, but 'Pac passed away about a week after the shooting. Anderson denied his involvement in "Pac's death, however, he also passed two years after the incident during a separate shooting. Davis is the only person alive who was in the car that night. He's accused of ordering the hit on Tupac Shakur and was charged with murder with the use of a deadly weapon. He pleaded not guilty.
Davis' defense attorney argued that the interview shouldn't be used because police told him their conversation would remain confidential. However, prosecutors rebutted that the interview was fair game after Davis decided to write a book and speak publicly about the case. The interview in question was previously used in documentaries, including 50 Cent and Netflix's Sean Combs: The Reckoning, and books like former Los Angeles Police Department Detective Greg Kading's "Murder Rap: The Untold Story of the Biggie Smalls & Tupac Shakur Murder Investigations."
Davis wrote his own book, “Compton Street Legend: Notorious Keffe D’s Street-Level Accounts of Tupac and Biggie Murders, Death Row Origins, Suge Knight, Puffy Combs, and Crooked Cops," in which he also recounted the story of the shooting. In it, he didn't reveal the shooter, but he maintained that he was the one who brought the gun in the car and threw it in the backseat before the shooting. He even boasted that he "sang because they promised I would not be prosecuted."
After he entered his plea, Davis maintained that the book he wrote and the interviews he conducted with media outlets about the shooting were for "entertainment purposes only." During a recent interview with ABC News, Davis also claimed he never even read the book he co-authored.
"I've never read the book," Davis said. "I just gave him details of my life and he went and did his little investigation and wrote the book on his own."
Duane Davis' trial is set for August 10.