Jurors See Damaging Video Of Bey Laughing About Bailey Murder
OAKLAND (CBS SF) - Jurors in the triple-murder trial of former Your Black Muslim Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV were shown Wednesday a videotape of him laughing about the shooting death of Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey four days after Bailey was killed.
The video, of Bey IV, 25, and two bakery colleagues was secretly recorded by authorities in a room at the San Leandro police station on Aug. 6, 2007.
In it Bey IV said, "Pow, pow, poof!", apparently mimicking the three shotgun blasts that claimed Bailey's life as he walked to his job as editor of the Oakland Post.
When Bey IV's half-brother, Joshua Bey asked where Bailey, 57, was shot, Bey IV laughed and said, "In the head."
The videotape is a key piece of evidence for the prosecution in the trial of Bey IV and bakery associate Antoine Mackey, 25, on three counts of murder for the deaths of Bailey and two other men in Oakland in the summer of 2007.
Lawyers for Bey IV and Mackey tried to prevent prosecutor Melissa Krum from playing the video for jurors, saying that its prejudicial effect is greater than its relevance to the charges in the case.
But Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas Reardon, who is presiding over the case, ruled that it's admissible, saying it's relevant to the prosecution's theory that Bey IV was the leader of the bakery and gave orders to bakery associates.
Bey IV is not charged with being the person who fatally shot Bailey and the other two victims in the case, but Krum told jurors in her opening statement that Bey ordered others, including Mackey, to carry out the killings.
Former bakery handyman Devaughndre Broussard testified recently that Bey IV ordered that Bailey be killed because Bey IV wanted to prevent Bailey from writing an article about the bakery's financial problems. The bakery was in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings at the time and eventually closed in late 2007.
Broussard, 23, pleaded guilty in May 2009 to two counts of voluntary manslaughter for the deaths of Bailey and Roberson in a plea bargain in which prosecutors promised him a 25-year prison sentence in exchange for his testimony against Bey and Mackey.
On Monday, Bey IV's lawyer, Gene Peretti, admitted to reporters that the video "is not flattering" to Bey IV.
"The jury won't like it," he said.
Peretti said that although video "is very inflammatory," he doesn't think it sheds much light on the key issue in the trial, which is whether Bey IV ordered that Bailey and the other two victims be killed.
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