LAS VEGAS (AP) 鈥� A bail hearing was postponed Tuesday in Las Vegas for a former Los Angeles-area gang leader charged with orchestrating the killing of hip-hop music legend Tupac Shakur in 1996, giving defense attorneys time to respond to prosecutors' allegations that witnesses in the case may be at risk.
Duane 鈥淜effe D鈥� Davis' court-appointed attorneys sought the delay to respond to prosecutors' allegations, filed last week, that jail provided to Davis鈥� family members show that Davis poses a threat to the public if he is released.
No court hearing was held Tuesday. One of Davis' attorneys, Robert Arroyo, told The Associated Press later that the defense wanted to respond in court in writing. He declined to provide details. Arroyo said last week he did not see evidence that any witness had been named or threatened.
Davis is the only person ever charged with a crime in the that also wounded rap music mogul Marion 鈥淪uge鈥� Knight, who is now serving in a California prison for an unrelated fatal shooting in the Los Angeles area in 2015.
Davis has pleaded not guilty and is due for trial in June on a murder charge. He has remained jailed without bail since his outside his Henderson home. Las Vegas police had there in mid-July.
Davis, originally from Compton, California, is now housed at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, where detainees鈥� phone calls are routinely recorded. If convicted at trial, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
In a recording of an October jail call, prosecutors say Davis鈥� son told the defendant about a 鈥済reen light鈥� authorization. Their court filing made no reference to Davis instructing anyone to harm someone, or to anyone associated with the case being physically harmed.
鈥淚n (Davis鈥�) world, a 鈥榞reen light鈥� is an authorization to kill,鈥� prosecutors Marc DiGiacomo and Binu Palal told Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny in the court document, adding that at least one witness was provided assistance from federal authorities "so he could change his residence.鈥�
Prosecutors also point to Davis鈥� own words since 2008 鈥� in police interviews, in his 2019 tell-all memoir and in the media 鈥� that they say provides that he orchestrated the September 1996 shooting.
Davis鈥� attorneys argue that his descriptions of Shakur鈥檚 killing were 鈥渄one for entertainment purposes and to make money.鈥�
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, , and won鈥檛 flee to avoid trial. They want Kierny to set bail at not more than $100,000.
Davis maintains that 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 or Biggie Smalls, six months later in Los Angeles.
Davis' bail hearing is now scheduled for Jan. 9.
Ken Ritter, The Associated Press
