Gang leader lied about Tupac killing to make money, defense lawyer claims
The IndependentThe latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The defense attorney representing a former Los Angeles-area gang leader accused of killing hip-hop music icon Tupac Shakur in 1996 in Las Vegas has said his client's accounts of the killing are fiction and prosecutors lack key evidence to obtain a murder conviction. “We haven’t seen more than just his word,” Arnold said of Davis' police and media interviews since 2008 in which prosecutors say he incriminated himself in Shakur's killing — including Davis' 2019 tell-all memoir of life leading a street gang in Compton, California. Arnold said his client wanted to make money with his story, so he embellished or outright lied about his involvement in the car-to-car shooting that killed Shakur and wounded rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight at a traffic signal near the Las Vegas Strip in September 1996. open image in gallery Rapper Tupac Shakur attends a voter registration event in South Central Los Angeles, Aug. 15, 1996 Knight, now 59, is serving 28 years in a California prison for an unrelated fatal shooting in the Los Angeles area in 2015. The defense attorney said police and prosecutors lack proof that Davis was in Las Vegas at the time of Shakur's killing, and don’t have the gun and car used during the shooting as evidence.