Nov 6, 2009 1:38 pm US/Pacific
Murder Trial Date Set For Yusuf Bey IV
OAKLAND (BCN) ―
Former Your Black Muslim Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV and co-defendant Antoine Mackey are scheduled to stand trial May 17 on three counts of murder for the deaths of journalist Chauncey Bailey and two other men in the summer of 2007, a prosecutor said Friday.
Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Chris Lamiero said Bey and Mackey, both 23, also are scheduled to appear in court May 3, two weeks before their trial is to start, in case their attorneys seek to have their trial moved to another county because of the extensive publicity their case has received.
Lamiero said attorneys for Bey and Mackey have discussed the possibility of filing a change of venue motion but haven't done so.
Their trial date was set at a hearing Oct. 28.
On April 29, an Alameda County grand jury indicted Bey and Mackey on three counts of murder each for the death of Bailey, the editor of the Oakland Post, on Aug. 2, 2007, as well as for the deaths of Odell Roberson Jr. and Michael Wills the previous month.
The grand jury also indicted former bakery handyman Devaughndre Broussard, 21, on two counts of murder for the killings of Bailey and Roberson.
But Broussard pleaded guilty on May 7 to two counts of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter and is slated to get a sentence of 25 years if he testifies truthfully against Bey and Mackey.
According to his attorney, LeRue Grim, Broussard has admitted that he killed Bailey and Roberson but says that Bey ordered him to do so.
In a statement that Broussard gave to prosecutors on March 23 and 24, he said Bey wanted him to kill Bailey because Bey was upset about an article that Bailey was planning to write about the bakery's financial problems.
Shortly after Bailey was killed the bakery became bankrupt and went out of business.
Bey appeared in court again Friday for a brief hearing on a separate case in which he and several associates are accused of kidnapping and torturing two women in Oakland two years ago to try to get money from them.
Lamiero said Bey won't stand trial in that case until after his murder case is completed. He said Bey and co-defendant Tamon Halfin, 21, are scheduled to return to court Dec. 7 to have future court dates set on that case.
Another co-defendant, Richard Lewis, 23, a former football star at Mission High School in San Francisco, is scheduled to stand trial separately Jan. 4.
Two of Bey's half-brothers were also charged in the kidnapping and torture case but have already admitted their guilt in plea agreements.
On Jan. 29, 2008, Joshua Bey, 20, pleaded guilty to a single count of kidnapping and is slated to receive a three-year prison term if he testifies truthfully against Bey IV, Halfin and Lewis.
On June 19, Yusuf Bey V, 22, pleaded no contest to one count of kidnapping.
His plea agreement calls for him to be sentenced to 10 years in state prison if he testifies truthfully against Lewis.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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