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Feb 24, 2008 7:04 pm US/Pacific
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Accused Bailey Killer On 60 Minutes: I'm Innocent
OAKLAND (CBS 5 / AP) ―
The man accused of killing award-winning Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey said in an interview with CBS' ''60 Minutes'' that he will reveal who the real murderer is when his case goes to trial.
The first television interview with Devaughndre Broussard, which aired Sunday evening on CBS 5, was part of a bigger story the show did on Bailey, the former editor of the Oakland Post newspaper who was named this past week as a posthumous recipient of the prestigious Polk award for local journalism.
The award is named for CBS News reporter George Polk, who was killed in 1948 while covering Greece's civil war.
Bailey was gunned down Aug. 2 in broad daylight on a city street as he walked to his downtown office at the Oakland Post. Police believe he was working on a piece about the financially troubled Your Black Muslim Bakery, an organization founded in the 1960s to peddle healthy baked goods and help ex-criminals get their lives back together.
Police think Bailey was murdered to keep his story about the alleged scandals at the bakery out of print. They have tied the organization to crimes including rape, murder and kidnapping.
In the interview, Broussard repeated his claim that he was coerced into confessing to the Bailey shooting by Yusuf Bey IV, son of the bakery's founder. The pair talked privately in a meeting arranged by police after Broussard's arrest.
"I didn't kill Chauncey Bailey. I gave false answers to the Oakland police because I was overcome with emotion," Broussard said in the 60 Minutes interview.
At first, Broussard denied any involvement, but after speaking to Bey alone -- he confessed to the killing.
''(Bey) was saying ... 'you got to take this fall.' He was saying, like, 'as your commanding officer, you got to follow orders,''' said Broussard.
Bey also invoked religion during their talk, added Broussard, a recent convert to Islam. "He was telling me how I was being tested by God…You got to prove your loyalty and what not."
Broussard said Bey told him that most people don't know when God is testing them. "'[Bey said] I'm helping you out. I'm telling you, you are being tested by God,'" Broussard said.
A former handyman at Your Black Muslim Bakery, Broussard's confession to police used phrases like "good soldier" to describe his killing of Bailey to protect the bakery.
But Broussard recanted soon after he confessed. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
Broussard maintained in the interview that he had never heard of Bailey until his arrest on the day after the murder had occured. He said he knows who killed Bailey but will not reveal that now. "I'm going to give all that info up when I go to trial."
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)