Nov 21, 2007 8:07 pm US/Pacific
Oak. Bakery Handyman Faces Trial In Bailey Slaying
OAKLAND (CBS 5 / KCBS / BCN) ―
An Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday that prosecutors presented sufficient evidence to have Your Black Muslim Bakery handyman Devaughndre Broussard stand trial on charges he murdered Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey.
The decision came after prosecutor John Jay played tape recordings during Wednesday's preliminary hearing of several apparent confessions by Broussard that he shot and killed Bailey.
Broussard, 19, is accused of shooting Bailey, 57, in broad daylight as the journalist walked to work from his home near Lake Merritt to the Post's offices at 405 14th St. in downtown Oakland on Aug. 2.
Investigators claim Broussard shot Bailey because of his work in reporting financial problems at the bakery, but Broussard has pleaded not guilty and his attorney has claimed his confession to police was coerced.
The tapes seemed to be key to the prosecution's case as an elderly man who testified Wednesday that he witnessed the execution-style slaying of Bailey was unable to identify Broussard as the shooter.
The eyewitness, who asked that his name not be disclosed, said he saw a young black man of about average height run across 14th Street toward Bailey and intentionally shoot him. The shooter then got into a white Ford van and was driven away from the scene, according to the witness.
But Broussard admitted to killing Bailey in three separate and controversial recordings, prosecutors said. One was done by Oakland police the day after Bailey's murder following Broussard's arrest. The others were secretly recorded phone calls that occured Aug. 4 from the Alameda County Jail.
Defense attorney LeRue Grim, who previously provided a copy of the police confession tape to CBS 5, said he was unaware of the contents of the phone recordings until they were played in court.
Jay didn't say who Broussard was talking to in the phone calls, but one of the calls was to a female friend and the other appeared to be his uncle, as he called the man "unc."
In his Aug. 3 interview with Oakland police Det. Derwin Longmire, Broussard can be heard on tape saying he was the shooter and shot Bailey three times, twice in the chest and once in the head.
When Det. Derwin Longmire asked him, "Did you do this crime?", Broussard paused for a moment and said, "Yes."
Outside court, Grim said he doesn't believe Broussard's statements were true confessions and he thinks Broussard was coerced by bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV, 21, to take responsibility for the crime. Broussard "wanted to be a good soldier," Grim explained.
The defense lawyer said Broussard will testify at his trial and identify Bailey's real killer. Grim added he is also hoping to present testimony by two bakery employees who will give Broussard an alibi by saying he was working at the bakery at the time Bailey was slain.
Oakland Assistant Police Chief Howard Jordan said the day after Bailey was shot that police believed that Yusuf Bey IV, the son of bakery founder Yusuf Bey, was involved in some fashion.
But Bey hasn't been charged and Broussard is currently the only defendant in the case.
However, Bey is in custody without bail on recent kidnapping and real estate fraud charges as well as several other cases, including one involving allegations that he and a group of bakery associates vandalized two West Oakland liquor stores on Nov. 23, 2005, because they were upset the stores were selling liquor in the black community.
Ironically, Bey and three other men are also scheduled to be in court on Wednesday for their ongoing but often-delayed preliminary hearing in that case.
In a separate interview recorded on Aug. 3, Bey told police he didn't like Bailey because he had written "slanderous things" about his father and the bakery.
But Bey said he didn't have anything to do with Bailey's murder and was upset Bailey had been killed because it would draw attention to the bakery and "heat would be thrown to the bakery."
Bey said Broussard told him he killed Bailey and in response, "I said we don't need this kind of heat."
Broussard is scheduled to return to court on Dec. 7 to be arraigned and to have his trial date set. Grim indicated that Broussard's trial would probably begin next June or July.
Meanwhile, there is more trouble is brewing for the bakery. Federal officials are calling for an investigation into allegations of a welfare scheme at the organization. The allegations stem from newspaper reports that said the former leader of the group may have directed his members to defraud government aid programs for poor people, pocketing millions of dollars.
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