Jurors on Wednesday watched a secretly recorded police video of a former community leader charged in the murder of an Oakland journalist and accused of laughing about the crime.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Jurors on Wednesday watched a secretly recorded police video of a former community leader charged in the murder of an Oakland journalist and accused of laughing about the crime. An Alameda County judge ruled Tuesday that portions of the video could be played as evidence against former Your Black Muslim Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV, who is on trial in the deaths of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey and two others in 2007. Judge Thomas Reardon ruled that Bey’s comments in the video outweighed any unfair prejudices jurors may get, the Contra Costa Times reported. The video was recorded in a police interview room shortly after Bey’s arrest in a separate case, three days after Bailey’s death on Aug. 2, 2007. In the video, a handcuffed Bey is seen imitating when Bailey got shot and laughing with two other bakery associates also in custody. "Pow, pow, poof!" said Bey as he moved his head up and down while laughing. When Bey’s half-brother, Joshua, asked where Bailey was shot, Bey said while laughing, "In the head." Prosecutor Melissa Krum told the judge that Bey’s laughter shows "a base consciousness of guilt," the newspaper reported. San Francisco Bay Area defense attorney Michael Cardoza, who is not representing in the case, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the video, which was first seen publicly in 2008, is the prosecution’s most salient evidence. "Bey may well have convicted himself in that video. The video is appalling," Cardoza said. "How is his defense going to explain that?" Devaughdre Broussard, a former bakery handyman, told jurors last month that Bey ordered him to kill Bailey to stop a newspaper investigation about the once-influential bakery’s financial troubles. Broussard admitted killing Bailey and another man, Odell Roberson, as part of a plea deal. Broussard said Bey gave him the shotgun used to kill Bailey on a downtown Oakland street in broad daylight. Also on trial is co-defendant Antione Mackey, a bakery associate. He is accused of killing Michael Wills, assisting in the death of Roberson and driving the getaway van after Bailey’s death. Bey and Mackey have both pleaded not guilty to murder charges. The day after Bailey’s death, police raided the bakery and arrested Bey, Broussard, Mackey and several others. In the video, Bey said the gun that was apparently used to kill Bailey had been in his closet. "The only reason why I took it out that night was because I saw a van kept going back and forth in front of the gate and the brothers were scared, so I gave them a gun," Bey said. "So I gave them the one they used." Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
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