Posted on 05/08/2009 7:34:05 AM PDT by SmithL
OAKLAND -- The prosecution's key witness in the murder case against Your Black Muslim Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of voluntary manslaughter for allegedly carrying out Bey's orders to shoot Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey and a homeless man whose nephew killed Bey's brother.
Devaughndre Broussard, 21, a former bakery handyman, entered the plea as part of a deal with prosecutors to secure his testimony against Bey and Antoine Mackey, another bakery figure. Both men face potential death sentences if convicted of murder for the 2007 deaths of Bailey and two other men, Odell Roberson Jr. and Michael Wills.
Broussard was arrested Aug. 3, 2007, the day after Bailey was shot to death on a downtown Oakland street, and was soon charged with the Oakland Post editor's slaying. He gave a five-hour statement to prosecutors in March and last month he testified for two days before a grand jury, which proceeded to indict Bey and Mackey.
Broussard told prosecutors he shot Bailey and Roberson but that Bey had ordered the killings. Bey and Mackey, both 23, are scheduled to be arraigned next week.
According to Broussard, Bey wanted Bailey killed because the journalist's reporting had contributed to the 2003 death of Bey's father, bakery founder Yusuf Bey, and because Bailey was working on a story about the Oakland group's internal and financial problems.
Broussard told prosecutors that Bey had a grudge against Roberson because his nephew killed Bey's brother, Antar Bey, in 2005.
Mackey allegedly drove the getaway van when Bailey was shot. He is suspected of having been with Broussard when Roberson was killed and of having pulled the trigger in the Wills killing, which Bey also allegedly ordered.
Judge Morris Jacobson, ... did not sentence Broussard.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
What a crock of crap. It was Murder I. Manslauter? Please! They will be out in 10 years.
The lesser charge for the handyman was part of the plea deal in exchange for testimony.
Helping to force Bey to potentially face the death penalty, or perhaps more likely put Bey away for life, I see as a good trade, myself.
Ten years is still a long time, nothing to be sneezed at --- to serve in prison. It's more than some murderers (in California, at least) have been sentenced in the first place.
Bey would indeed be the grand prize.
He and his thugs have been terrorizing people all across the Bay Area for many years. I hope they can use this murder to finally put him away.
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