Local News

Lawyer: Broussard Coerced By Bey In Bailey Murder

OAKLAND (CBS 5 / KCBS / AP / BCN) ― The attorney for the man accused of murdering journalist Chauncey Bailey said Thursday that Your Black Muslim Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV has apologized to his client for ordering him to take the fall for the incident.

Following a brief hearing in Alameda County Superior Court for DeVaughndre Broussard, 19, a handyman at the bakery, defense attorney LeRue Grimm said Bey apologized to Broussard when they recently passed each other in the visiting area of the county jail.

Broussard was scheduled to enter a plea to the murder charges against him Thursday but his plea entry was postponed until Oct. 18.

Bailey, 57, was shot multiple times on 14th Street near Alice Street shortly before 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 2 as he was walking from his home near Lake Merritt to his job as editor of the Oakland Post newspaper several blocks away at 405 14th St.

Oakland police said Broussard told them that he murdered Bailey because he didn't like stories Bailey had written and researched about the bakery. Police also said they have gun evidence connecting Broussard to the shooting.

Grimm said bakery associates held a celebration at the bakery after Bailey was killed and joyfully predicted that authorities wouldn't find out who was responsible.

"They were talking about what had happened and Mr. Bailey had gotten what he deserved, and so forth, and Mr. Broussard overhead much of that discussion," said Grimm. "They discussed how so-and-so did that and so-and-so did that and there was kind of a celebration."

At the party, Grimm said Bey IV bragged that "(the cops) will never pin this on us."

But he said bakery leaders later tried to figure out who should take the fall if an investigation into the fatal shooting went anywhere. Grimm said they decided it was Broussard who should take the blame.

Grim maintained Bey IV planted the shotgun responsibile for Bailey's shooting in Broussard's bedroom.

Grimm told reporters that Bey IV convinced Broussard to falsely confess by promising that his charges would be reduced to manslaughter, that Broussard would only serve a year in jail, and that he would essentially keep the controversial bakery organization from police scrutiny.

Assistant Police Chief Howard Jordan said the day after Bailey was shot that police believe bakery leader Bey IV, 24, the son of bakery founder Yusuf Bey, was involved in some fashion.

But Bey IV hasn't been charged and Broussard is the only defendant in the case.

However, Bey IV is in custody without bail on recent kidnapping and real estate fraud charges. He also faces numerous other unrelated felony charges in Alameda, San Francisco and Solano counties.

Meanwhile, Oakland police said Thursday that the shotgun used in the Bailey killing was also used in a failed attempt to assassinate John Bey, a high-ranking bakery member, on June 17, 2005 in the Oakland hills, as part of a power struggle within the organization.

The same weapon also was used last December to shoot out the windows of a car owned by the ex-boyfriend of the girlfriend of Bey IV, 24, according to investigators who compared recovered shotgun shells.

Broussard's attorney has said his clinet was not involved in the John Bey attack or the car shooting, and investigators said they are inclined to believe him because Broussard didn't work at the bakery at the time of the earlier incidents.

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