Las Vegas jurors to be questioned in jailhouse battery trial of Tupac killing suspect

A judge has scheduled a hearing to question jurors in the jailhouse battery trial of the man accused in the fatal shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur after the man’s attorney raised claims of juror misconduct.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 61, was found guilty in April of counts of battery by a prisoner and challenging someone to a fight following a Dec. 23 fight with another inmate. He awaits trial on separate allegations that he orchestrated the slaying of Shakur near the Strip in 1996 as retaliation for a fight involving Shakur and his nephew.

District Judge Nadia Krall was supposed to sentence Davis on Tuesday, but after hearing arguments from attorneys, she decided to subpoena all the jurors from the battery trial for a hearing to investigate defense attorney Carl Arnold’s claims a juror improperly spoke about the case.

Arnold, who is pushing for a new trial, previously alleged that a juror named Stephen Berkley was overheard talking to other jurors during a break “about inmates fighting and how the little guy has to work harder to preserve his reputation.”

Arnold argued those comments violated court instructions.

“His comments indicate that he had formed opinions about the case and was trying to persuade other jurors to have the same opinions as himself prior to deliberations,” the defense attorney wrote.

Berkley has denied talking about the case and said he was referring to his own experience in jail.

The sources of Arnold’s allegations appear to be Davis’ son, Duane Davis Jr., and Richard Bond, a filmmaker, who claimed to have witnessed the conversation in affidavits.

Davis’ son said in his affidavit that he reported the conversation to a court marshal, who told him to inform attorneys.

But Arnold did not hear about it until the evening of the day it occurred, after jurors returned their guilty verdict, according to defense court filings.

The attorney, who argued the marshal did not promptly notify the court, told Krall his client was prejudiced because he did not have an evidentiary hearing about the comments and whether they affected the case.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo argued that Krall did not have authority to hold an evidentiary hearing, then said she should conduct one after she ruled that the allegations were “newly discovered evidence,” giving her jurisdiction.

“Call all 14 jurors because I don’t believe what’s in the affidavit is going to come out in the courtroom,” the prosecutor said.

Arnold said calling all the jurors back “wrongfully interferes with their lives.”

The judge ordered them to all be subpoenaed anyway because she said other jurors might have heard the alleged statement.

DiGiacomo said in court documents that Arnold’s argument about the remark “makes no sense.”

“It doesn’t appear the statement is an opinion which reflects the juror’s opinion of the case,” the prosecutor wrote. “However, if it does, the fact that the smaller individual would have to ‘work harder’ to preserve his reputation would be helpful to Defendant Davis’s claim of self-defense.”

The evidentiary hearing is scheduled for July 2.

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.