Left to right: Antoine Mackey, Yusuf Bey IV, Devaughndre Broussard (Carrie Ching/CIR)

Left to right: Antoine Mackey, Yusuf Bey IV, Devaughndre Broussard (Carrie Ching/CIR)

By Thomas Peele, The Chauncey Bailey Project

OAKLAND — Chauncey Bailey’s confessed killer spoke in graphic detail Monday about how he shot the journalist more than three years ago.

Devaughndre Broussard told jurors that he shot Bailey from an “arm’s length” in the shoulder and then, after the 57-year-old journalist fell to ground, in the stomach.

He said he started to run, but then quickly returned to stand over the body to fire again with a 12-gauge shotgun loaded with buckshot.

“Where did you aim?” prosecutor Melissa Krum asked.

“At his face,” Broussard replied.

Broussard — on the witness stand for the third day in the closely watched trial — testified he was under orders from Your Black Muslim Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV to “make sure (Bailey) dead. He wasn’t supposed to live.”

Bey IV and the man Broussard said was his getaway driver for the Bailey killing, Antoine Mackey, both 25, sat at the defense table staring at the witness. Broussard has said Bey IV ordered Bailey’s death to stop the Oakland Post editor from writing a story about financial trouble and mismanagement at the bakery.

*****
KTVU-TV: Witness describes death of journalist
Bay Area News Group: Chauncey Bailey murder trial Special Report
*****

Broussard testified that he, Bey IV, Mackey and another man, Richard Lewis, went to an IHOP restaurant in Emeryville after the killing and Bey IV asked “what the inside of (Bailey’s) head look like.”

Broussard told jurors he didn’t remember how he answered.

During another talk after Bailey’s death, Bey IV told Mackey and Broussard that he loved them for what they had done, Broussard testified, and promised to reward them by introducing them to an unnamed associate who would create false, high credit scores for them.

The testimony was painful for Bailey’s family.

Bailey’s brother, Errol Cooley, said Broussard described the killing “like he was shooting at a dog. It was devastating. It was very hard because he’s sitting up there describing what happened.”

Still, Cooley said, he thinks Broussard “was a pawn” in his brother’s murder and that the family strongly supports attempts “to get the main person” prosecutors say is responsible for the death — Bey IV.

Bey IV and Mackey are facing triple murder charges in connection with Bailey’s death on Aug. 2, 2007, and the unrelated shooting deaths of two other men. Broussard has pleaded guilty to killing Bailey and another man, and is expected to receive 25 years in prison in exchange for his testimony.

Broussard’s testimony continues all day Monday, when he may face cross examination from defense attorneys. Attorneys for Bey IV and Mackey have said they will aggressively attack the 23-year-old’s credibility.

The morning’s testimony was delayed by about an hour because of problems transporting Broussard from North County Jail, where he has been held in isolation since days after the killing.

As morning testimony ended, Broussard was describing how he first denied the shooting to Oakland detectives and how he learned that Bey IV was in another interrogation room, telling detectives that Broussard was the trigger man.

When testimony resumes, he is expected to describe what happened during seven minutes that detectives left him alone with Bey IV, a conversation that was not recorded.

Broussard told grand jurors two years ago that Bey IV told him to take sole blame for killing Bailey in order to protect the bakery and that he was being “tested by God” to determine his strength as a Black Muslim.

In his grand jury testimony, Broussard said Bey IV promised him money if he would admit the killing as a solo crime, that he would get him a lawyer and that he would likely only serve a year in two in jail before being freed.

Chauncey Bailey Project reports are also being featured at:
–Center for Investigative Reporting
–Maynard Institute
–New America Media
–San Francisco Bay Guardian