A US judge has postponed a bail hearing for the man charged with organising the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur over fears witnesses may be in danger.
The hearing, which was scheduled to go ahead on Tuesday, was for Duane "Keffe D" Davis who is charged with orchestrating the killing in 1996 in Las Vegas.
His court-appointed attorneys sought the delay to respond to prosecutors' allegations that jail telephone recordings and a list of names provided to Davis' family members show he poses a threat to the public if he is released.
One of Davis' attorneys, Robert Arroyo, told The Associated Press the defence wanted to put its response in writing.
He declined to provide details but said last week he did not see evidence any witness had been named or threatened.Davis is the only person ever charged with a crime in the drive-by shooting that also wounded rap music mogul Marion "Suge" Knight.
He has pleaded not guilty and is due for trial in June on a murder charge. He has remained jailed without bail since his arrest on September 29.Davis, originally from Compton, California, is now housed at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, where detainees' phone calls are routinely recorded.
In a recording of an October jail call, prosecutors say Davis' son told the defendant about a "green light" authorization."In (Davis') world, a 'green light' is an authorization to kill," prosecutors Marc DiGiacomo and Binu Palal told Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny in the court document, adding at least one witness was provided assistance from federal authorities "so he could change his residence."Prosecutors also point to Davis' own words since 2008 — in police interviews, in his 2019 tell-all memoir and in the media — they say provides strong evidence he orchestrated the September 1996 shooting.Davis' attorneys argue his descriptions of Shakur's killing were "done for entertainment purposes and to make money."Arroyo and co-counsel Charles Cano have argued their 60-year-old client is in poor health after a battle with cancer that is in remission, poses no danger to the community, and won't flee to avoid trial. They want Kierny to set bail at not more than $100,000.Davis maintains he was given immunity from prosecution in 2008 by FBI agents and Los Angeles police who were investigating the killings of Shakur in Las Vegas and rival rapper Christopher Wallace, known as The Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, six months later in Los Angeles.Davis' bail hearing is now scheduled for January 9.
