LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Lawyers for the man accused of killing iconic rapper Tupac Shakur say a judge should toss out evidence against him seized in an unnecessary, unjustified nighttime search of the man’s home, according to recent court filings.
High-profile criminal defense attorney Robert Draskovich of Las Vegas filed a 24-page motion to suppress evidence against his client, Duane “Keffe D” Davis on Dec. 22 in Clark County District Court where Davis stands trial for orchestrating the shooting death of Shakur 1996.
“When officers obtain nighttime authorization through bad faith, courts agree suppression is appropriate. Bad faith is evident from the face of the affidavit supporting the search warrant,” the motion says, indicating that the judge should — at the very least — hold a hearing on the matter. The motion says the police affidavit in support of a nighttime search, which Draskovich said was a violation of Davis’s rights.
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“First, the court unwittingly relied on a misleading portrait of Davis as a dangerous drug dealer—when in fact his drug convictions were [25] years old and he was now a [60]-year-old retired cancer survivor that had lived quietly in the same Henderson home for nearly a decade. Second, the court overlooked the case-specific urgency or safety concerns Nevada law requires to justify nighttime searches, accepting instead generic safety theories that would apply to virtually any search of any home.”
The motion included an additional 186-page appendix of supporting documents, including a list of items seized during the search. Those items included several laptops, tablets, a USB drive, “purported marijuana,” a copy of an issue of Vibe Magazine about Shakur, and Compton Street Legend, a book written by Davis in 2019.
Davis hired Draskovich in August. Davis is awaiting a decision from the Nevada Supreme Court on whether to dismiss his case, claiming he has immunity.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department did not respond immediately to a message sent on the Christmas holiday about the allegations in Davis’s motion to dismiss. But after Davis’s arrest, District Attorney Steve Wolfson discussed the sufficiency of the evidence against Davis, some of which Davis now seeks to suppress…