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 — Testimony in the Chauncey Bailey murder trial was postponed Thursday morning because prosecutor Melissa Krum was ill.

Trial is scheduled to resume Monday morning before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas Reardon; the trial is not held on Fridays.

When court resumes, defense attorney Gary Sirbu is expected to continue questioning Bailey’s confessed killer, Devaughndre Broussard. Sirbu, who represents co-defendant Antoine Mackey in the triple-murder case, was in the midst of an intense questioning of Broussard when court ended Wednesday.

Mackey and Your Black Muslim Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV are being tried together on charges connected to the deaths of Bailey, editor of the Oakland Post, and two other men in summer 2007.

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KTVU-TV: Broussard denies defense’s accusations of lying
Bay Area News Group: Chauncey Bailey murder trial Special Report
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Broussard is prosecutor Krum’s star witness in the case. He’s testified that Bey IV ordered him and Mackey to kill Bailey because he was working on a story about the bakery’s financial struggles. Broussard also said Bey IV ordered him to kill a homeless man, Odell Roberson, and that Mackey helped him. He also said Bey IV and Mackey bragged about killing another man, Michael Wills.

Bey IV and Mackey have pleaded not guilty.

The trial is expected to last until June or longer. Two days of testimony were canceled last week because an alternate juror fell ill.

Contact investigative reporter Thomas Peele at tpeele@bayareanewsgroup.com. Follow him at Twitter.com/thomas_peele.

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