(RSF/IFEX) – More than a year-and-a-half after the murder of “Oakland Post” reporter Chauncey Bailey, new evidence incriminating Yusuf Bey IV, the former head of Your Black Muslim Bakery, has come to light. Suspected of being the crime’s mastermind, he has nonetheless not been charged yet. On 4 March, a confidential informant implicated Yusuf Bey […]
(RSF/IFEX) – More than a year-and-a-half after the murder of “Oakland Post” reporter Chauncey Bailey, new evidence incriminating Yusuf Bey IV, the former head of Your Black Muslim Bakery, has come to light. Suspected of being the crime’s mastermind, he has nonetheless not been charged yet.
On 4 March, a confidential informant implicated Yusuf Bey IV in the slaying of the veteran journalist in August 2007. The informant, who met Bey IV while they were in jail together, told the Alameda District Attorney’s Office that Bey IV was worried that Bailey had obtained financial information about the bakery that he didn’t want to get out. Chris Lamiero, the Aladema County deputy district attorney who is currently handling the prosecution, has filed an affidavit with this information and declined to comment on the information contained in reports pertaining to the case.
Reporters Without Borders voiced deep concern at the fact that Yusuf Bey IV has not been charged yet: “Despite mounting evidence against Bey IV, Your Black Muslim Bakery member Devaughndre Broussard is still the only person charged with Bailey’s murder. Justice will not be served at the upcoming trial if Yusuf Bey IV does not appear before the court as a suspect.” The international press freedom organisation wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder at the end of January (see press release of 29 January 2009 – http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=30147 ) to urge him to bring this case to the federal level, in order “to avoid further bias, pressure and conflicts of interests and to allow a thorough and impartial investigation.”
On 7 August 2007, Broussard admitted to the reporter’s killing; he later recanted, stating that Bey IV had made him confess. Broussard goes to trial on 18 May, with a hearing scheduled for 10 April requested by his lawyer regarding search warrants for a raid on the bakery, a raid unrelated to the Bailey murder case. During that3 August 2007 raid, Broussard allegedly threw a gun from the window of a bakery dormitory, a weapon that could have been used to kill Bailey. Broussard’s lawyer is also looking for the disciplinary records of the lead detective in the case, Sgt. Derwin Longmire.
The Chauncey Bailey Project ( http://www.chaunceybaileyproject.org ) revealed last fall that Sgt. Derwin Longmire had repeatedly ignored evidence linking Yusuf Bey IV to the murder. He had interceded on behalf of Bey IV in two previous unrelated cases involving the young leader. The Oakland police internal affairs department and the State Justice Department are investigating whether Stg. Longmire’s relationship with Bey IV may have compromised the case.
Updates the Bailey case: http://ifex.org/en/content/view/full/99502
