Prosecutor: Evidence links bakery, Bailey killing THE CHAUNCEY BAILEY KILLING

Former Oakland Tribune reporter Chauncey W. Bailey Jr. is seen in this undated file photo. Bailey, as editor of the weekly Oakland Post, was shot to death in Oakland, Calif., on Aug. 2, 2007, while investigating a Black Muslim splinter group's financial dealings. Bailey has been named the posthumous winner of the George Polk Award for local journalism, one of the top prizes in U.S. journalism. (AP Photo/Oakland Tribune) **NO SALES; MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT ** less Former Oakland Tribune reporter Chauncey W. Bailey Jr. is seen in this undated file photo. Bailey, as editor of the weekly Oakland Post, was shot to death in Oakland, Calif., on Aug. 2, 2007, while ... more Photo: AP Photo: AP Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Prosecutor: Evidence links bakery, Bailey killing 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

A wealth of ballistic evidence links the slayings of an Oakland newspaper editor and two other men to Your Black Muslim Bakery, whose former leader ordered all three killings but never pulled the trigger himself, a prosecutor told jurors Monday.

Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey, 57, was shot dead as he walked to work in downtown Oakland because he was planning to write a story about the now-defunct black empowerment group's financial problems, Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Melissa Krum told a jury in the triple murder trial of Yusuf Bey IV and a bakery associate, Antoine Mackey, both 25.

Another victim, Odell Roberson Jr., 31, was the uncle of a man who had shot and killed Bey's brother in a botched 2005 carjacking in North Oakland, Krum said. A third victim, Michael Wills, 36, was shot and killed simply because he was white, the prosecutor said.

Spent shotgun shells found at the scene of Bailey's slaying matched one found in Bey's bedroom andseven located on the roof of the bakery when it was raided a day after the killing, and the same SKS assault rifle was used to kill Roberson and Wills, said Krum, who showed the jury graphic autopsy and crime-scene photos of all three victims. She held up the shotgun used to kill Bailey.

"This case is voluminous in the amount of evidence, but it's not complicated," Krum said during her two-hour opening statement in the Oakland courtroom of Superior Court Judge Thomas Reardon.

The three slayings, along with the shooting of an unoccupied car belonging to a man who had gotten into a dispute with bakery members were "committed upon the order of Yusuf Bey IV for the benefit of Your Black Muslim Bakery," Krum said.

No defense statements

Defense attorneys declined to give opening remarks on Monday but could do so after the prosecution rests. The jury of five men and seven women, which includes a black man and a black woman, will begin hearing evidence in the case today.

Outside court, Bey's attorney, Gene Peretti, said the defense will focus its efforts on cross-examining Devaughndre Broussard, a former bakery handyman who pleaded guilty in 2009 to two counts of voluntary manslaughter for killing Roberson on July 7, 2007, near the San Pablo Avenue bakery and Bailey on Aug. 2, 2007, near 14th and Alice streets in downtown Oakland.

In exchange for testifying truthfully during the trial - he could take the stand as early as this week - Broussard, 23, will be sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Stolen shotgun

Broussard killed Bailey with three shotgun blasts after he and Mackey staked out the journalist's home, Krum said. A day later, an Alameda police officer taking part in a multiagency raid of the bakery saw Broussard throwing the 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun out of a bakery window. The shotgun had been stolen by bakery members in 2005 when they vandalized one of two West Oakland liquor stores to curb alcohol sales, Krum said.

Broussard initially denied killing anyone, Krum said. Broussard eventually admitted to investigators that Bey had ordered him to kill Bailey - but had demanded that Broussard be a "good soldier" and take sole responsibility for the slaying.

Broussard told police that Bey had told him, "You can't miss. If you miss, they are coming down hard on the bakery," according to Krum. Bey also said, "This is going to be big," the prosecutor said, referring to Bailey's slaying.

Gary Sirbu, Mackey's attorney, said outside court, "The prosecution has an extremely difficult case to prove. They have an accomplished liar who they're calling to the witness stand who's changed his testimony every which way, and they've got to persuade a jury that this man is to be trusted."

Peretti agreed, saying, "He's lied before, he's lying again. He's completely inconsistent with his tale, and I think the jury's going to see he's a liar."

Two more killings

Prosecutors say Broussard used the SKS assault rifle to kill Roberson on July 7, 2007, the same weapon that Mackey used five days later to kill Wills. Krum said that Wills' killing was racially motivated and that he was chosen simply because he was white.

Errol Cooley, Bailey's brother who was among several family members in court Monday, said hearing the evidence in the case is like "opening up a sore, a wound all over again. Our hearts are heavy as far as our family is concerned," Cooley said. "It's not going to bring Chauncey back, but I believe justice will be served."