The only suspect ever charged in the killing of Tupac Shakur did not appear in court Tuesday for a hearing on whether his defence team is prepared to go to trial.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis also did not attend a scheduled hearing in another case, in which he is accused of fighting with another man at the Clark County Detention Center in late December.

A spokesperson for Davis’ attorney declined to say why he did not attend either hearing. The Associated Press left messages with the detention centre seeking more information.

Davis, who pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the 1996 death of the rap icon in Las Vegas, has been jailed since his September 2023 arrest.

Lawyer Carl Arnold told Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny that Davis would “probably want to be here” for the trial readiness hearing and requested that it be pushed to next week.

Kierny agreed and set a Feb. 18 date for it. Kierny said she thought Davis was absent because he was in the other hearing.

The trial is scheduled to begin in March.

A grand jury indicted Davis separately last week on charges of battery and challenging someone to a fight, moving that case from Justice Court to state District Court. He is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

A correctional officer told grand jurors that he was escorting Davis back to his unit when he and the other man exchanged words and then started fighting in a common room, according to the Review-Journal.

Davis’ legal team said he was ambushed and acted in self-defence.

In the Shakur case, Arnold argues that Davis never should have been charged because of immunity agreements that Davis says he reached years ago with federal and local prosecutors while living in California.

Kierny has said Davis is not protected from prosecution because he lacks proof of any such agreements.

Prosecutors say they have strong evidence against him, including his own accounts of the shooting in a tell-all memoir. Davis, an ex-gang leader, is accused of orchestrating the killing near the Las Vegas Strip.