Tupac suspect ‘inundated’ with film offers & lawyer wants to make reality TV show – as Keefe D could be ‘freed in days’
TUPAC Shakur murder suspect Keefe D has been bombarded by an array of huge financial offers from major TV networks who all want to tell his side of the story.
His lawyer Carl Arnold has also been asked to film shows detailing his efforts to save Keefe from life imprisonment if found guilty of the murder of rap icon Tupac.
Arnold is keen to strike a deal with broadcasters to showcase his efforts at saving Keefe, even though the former gangster has made several confessions to being the shotcaller in the case.
The pair is optimistic that contracts can be signed once Judge Carli Kierny signs off on a release from behind bars at the Bail Reconsideration hearing set for July 23.
Arnold confirmed that a financial deal would aid Keefe paying for his services and is important for his “legacy” as an attorney.
Keefe’s desire to earn cash from his connections to Tupac was a major stumbling block in Kierny granting bail, but Arnold is adamant that the former Compton gangbanger has the legal right to speak and earn from the case.
The U.S. Sun has learned that Keefe’s family has boasted about their plans to “make some serious cash” with TV, media, and a potential film deal.
Speaking exclusively Arnold confirmed that he has tabled deals for him and Keefe – real name Duane Davis.
“We get approached with that since the inception of the case ever since I got on board,” Arnold said.
“Different news agencies, different TV shows have all come up and said, ‘Hey, when Keefe gets out, we want to follow you. We want to see the preparation of defense.’
“ Trust me, nobody’s wrote me a contract yet.”
Arnold confirmed that he is on board to appear in a documentary-like reality show about his fight to earn freedom.
“When I’m dead and gone, we have to preserve this thing. It’s a legacy. It’s a legacy case,” he admitted of a deal.
“And so it is like Johnnie Cochran [O.J. Simpson’s lawyer], we could still go watch that old film of him and that if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.
“And so that’s what I’m saying. This is the legacy or one of the legacies that I’m leaving when I leave this planet. So of course if somebody wants to film it – let’s go.”
It’s unclear how Davis plans to pay Arnold for his services given he had failed to raise bail sums of around $113k for his bail.
Why it’s taken so long for justice in the Tupac Shakur case
By The Sun’s Senior Reporter Emma Parry, who has been reporting on the Tupac murder for the past 10 years
TUPAC fans have been waiting for justice for the iconic rapper for almost 28 years.
Finally in September 2023 there appeared to be progress with the arrest of Duane “Keefe D” Davis – a former Southside Crip gangster from Compton, LA – who had been telling the world for years that he and his fellow “gang soldiers” were responsible for the hit.
I’ve been reporting on the case for several years and it always appeared pretty cut and dry…Keefe had spent the past decade gaining notoriety by boasting about his alleged involvement in the shooting – now he was finally getting what he deserves. But despite Keefe running his mouth for years, I now believe a guilty verdict in November’s trial is far from guaranteed.
Keefe describes in great detail in his memoir Compton Street Legend what went down the night Pac was shot, extracts from which The U.S. Sun has published.
He claimed that he was offered a million dollars by rapper Diddy to “handle” Tupac and Suge Knight and when he and his Crip gangsters came across the pair driving near the Strip in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996, Keefe alleged he passed the gun to his nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson who took the shot. Keefe said if Pac had been on his side: “I would have blast”.
Keefe repeated the claims multiple times over the years, on YouTube channels, documentaries, and even in taped confessions to police, when he believed he could not be prosecuted. In one confession to the LAPD, Keefe appeared completely remorseless telling detectives: “We didn’t give a f**k…The ambulance [for Tupac] was parked right here next to us. That s**t was as funny as a motherf**ker.”
The Sun has been publishing stories about Keefe’s self confessed involvement in the crime since 2018.
I sent many links to his confessions to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, asking them why this man had not been arrested yet. They would thank me for the info but say that they could not comment because the case was still active. From the outside, it looked like no action was being taken at all.
We spoke to former detectives involved in the case and documentary makers who all felt utterly frustrated at the lack of progress in the case. We even published a plea from former LAPD detective Greg Kading, who had probed the murders, urging Las Vegas cops to arrest Keefe, back in 2020.
For years, the case appeared to have been forgotten and ignored, to be left forever unsolved.
But finally, in the summer of 2023, we got word from our sources that there had been a huge development in the case. A secret grand jury was due to be held on whether or not Keefe should be indicted. I was dubious at first but around the same time a house in Henderson, Nevada, linked to Keefe, was raided in July as part of the Tupac investigation.
Things were heating up.
Later that summer, behind closed doors, jurors listened to hours of testimony from former cops, detectives, and coroners involved in the Tupac case and gangsters and associates of Keefe’s and Pac’s from back in the day. They were shown graphic photos of Tupac’s bullet-ridden body. After days of evidence, they decided there was enough evidence to prosecute Keefe.
Once the secret documents were released I poured over the transcripts. While interesting, many of the witnesses were telling stories they’d heard second-hand. None of the prosecution witnesses had a clear look at who shot Pac. One witness Devonta Lee claimed another gangster called Big Dre took the shot – not Orlando. Maybe things weren’t as clear-cut as I first thought.
Keefe was then arrested on September 30, 2023 at his home. Bodycam footage we obtained from the scene showed Keefe bragging to cops even as he was handcuffed in the back of a police car – telling officers he was involved in the “biggest case in Las Vegas history”.
Following Keefe’s multiple appearances in court, he seems to have lost much of that bravado and now cuts a sad, lonely figure.
Suffering from various health problems as a result of cancer, he’s struggling to cope with the brutalities of jail life and can’t get together enough money to afford his bail. He feels some of his old Southside Crip associates – men he handed wads of cash to in his glory days, have just abandoned him.
Keefe is now desperate to get out of jail, and his defense stems is leaning on his claim that he completely made up his involvement in the Tupac murder for fame and money. He saw other people cashing in on the murder so he thought he would too. He reckons his confessions to police were all lies – he made it up because he was under a plea deal and thought it would help him beat his other charges.
And, according to his lawyer Carl Arnold, he wasn’t even in Las Vegas on the night of the shooting. Arnold remains convinced he will see his client walk free and their secret weapon could be former Death Row Records boss Suge.
As the only other person still alive from either car, Suge, currently in prison for a fatal hit and run, would be a key witness. Suge is the only person still alive who knows what went down – he saw the shooter. While he’s said he won’t testify at the November trial, Suge has claimed in a TMZ interview from prison that Orlando was not the shooter, which again throws into doubt Keefe’s version of events.
Keefe and his lawyer are hoping they might be able to change his mind and persuade him to testify for the defense. And Suge holds the power to blow the prosecution’s case apart.
And if Keefe walks free, will there ever be justice for Pac?
However, the Henderson-based lawyer sees parallels between this case and how Michael Jackson’s doctor Conrad Murray paid for his representation.
Murray and lawyers filmed for October Films and What’s it all about? productions, who then sold the show around the world.
Arnold expressed hope that the fees could be enough to “hopefully assemble a team once Keefe gets out.”
One Las Vegas friend of Keefe’s family, who has broken details on the case for over a year, says, “This TV deal is what they are holding out hope for to pay for all these costs.
One day they gonna make a film about my life and all this s**t.
Keefe D
“There has been a lot of stress from Keefe’s plight and concern that the family could lose their home should bill mount up.
“So far they have kept his money issues separate from their world, but doubts remain as to how long that lasts.
“Strangely Keefe has spent the last decade telling people around him ‘One day they gonna make a film about my life and all this s**t.’’
“So in some ways, the ego that Keefe has about this notoriety still is there. Just how much he will make after the lawyers’ fees is a different question.”
Back in June, Kierny rejected Keefe’s $112,500 bail bond over concerns about the source of the money – music producer Cash “Wack 100” Jones – and whether he and Keefe had been discussing selling the gangster’s life story to TV producers.
Prosecutors referenced even more details about Keefe’s efforts to produce a TV series in a huge, 179-page filing opposing his bail filed to Kierny on Thursday.
They referenced recorded phone calls where Keefe, speaking to his wife Paula, was discussing how Jones had a “Jewish partner” from “Paragon” offering a TV deal.
The State recorded Jones telling Keefe he’d “spoken to television ‘big wigs’” and “ that his priority is to get at least ten episodes done before Defendant’s trial starts,” the court documents alleged.
They also claimed Keefe son’s Junior “relayed that the person who is fronting the money said Davis can smoke all the weed he wants and all he must do is sit at home.”
Prosecutors have urged Kierny to deny Keefe bail, saying that he would use his time out of jail to profit from Tupac’s death.
During the initial bail source hearing Jones gave differing answers about how far along potential talks for a TV deal were, and failed to provide exact information on the source of his cash.
In the dock, Keefe, who had been heard talking about TV and film deals in phone calls with family members, “claimed that he had nothing to do with television.”
The main issue for Davis in filming for a TV doc about his case concerns his statements and comments on the Tupac killing on September 7, 1996.
The 61-year-old has given multiple media interviews and even taped police interviews admitting he was the shotcaller for the kill.
Keefe is unlikely to give evidence on the stand of his November first-degree murder trial.
But Arnold cites his defense will be that he simply fabricated his role for “fame and money.”
One senior Los Angeles-based TV executive said, “It is unlikely a TV production company will pay millions for an old gangster saying his entire life was a lie. There are many issues with doing a deal with Duane Davis.”
Last week The U.S Sun revealed that Keefe’s lawyer believes he should be allowed out of jail to make money from any connections he has to Tupac Shakur – before standing trial.
The ex-drug-dealing Los Angeles Crip enforcer has been trying to make a movie or TV series about his gang life and his connection to ‘Pac, Biggie Smalls, P Diddy, and Suge Knight for several years.
Carl Arnold believes Keefe should be allowed to work film and TV deals about his knowledge of Tupac’s 1996 killing – even though he has pled not guilty to his murder.
Arnold insists Judge Kierny incorrectly referenced Nevada’s Son of Sam or Slayer Statute at his last bail hearing, which prevents killers from profiting from writings or shows about their crimes.
The veteran lawyer hit back saying Keefe – who remains “innocent until proven guilty” – has every right to make cash from his reputation and Kierny “doesn’t have the authority to deny Keefe selling his rights.”
Arnold added: “She’s legally incorrect and she doesn’t have the authority to deny Keefe selling his rights, even though he didn’t sell them to Cash Jones – nor is there any proof of that.”