Free Republic

YUSUF BEY IV is entitled to a fair trial on charges that he ordered the 2007 killings of Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey and two other men. But he and his supporters are not entitled to manipulate the system or intimidate witnesses. Before the trial even started, according to a court declaration from the district attorney's office, Bey tried to use his lawyer to shuttle out of jail a list of witnesses he wanted killed. The plot was stopped and no one was harmed. The attorney, Lorna Patton Brown, has given up her license to practice law. Now, a disturbing series...

OAKLAND -- Most of the evidence collected during an investigation of a suspected plot to kill witnesses in the Chauncey Bailey murder case can be used against co-defendants Yusuf Bey IV and Antoine Mackey, a judge ruled late Thursday. At issue was how much of the material was protected by attorney-client privilege because it involved Bey IV's former lawyer, Lorna Patton Brown. Superior Court Judge Thomas Reardon, after hours of talks in chambers with lawyers and a lengthy closed-door hearing, ruled that only Brown's handwritten notes are off-limits. It was unclear exactly how prosecutors will now use the material. According...

OAKLAND -- After striking a deal with prosecutors, Devaughndre Broussard described in detail how he carried out orders from the leader of Your Black Muslim Bakery to kill Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey, including specific instructions to fire enough rounds to make sure "it ain't no coming back." The 21-year-old former handyman for the bakery chillingly and nonchalantly took prosecutor Chris Lamiero step by step March 23 and 24 through the events surrounding the slayings of the Oakland Post editor and another man. Both shootings, he said, were ordered by Yusuf Bey IV, the leader of the bakery, a now-defunct black...