Yusuf Bey IV ‘not a normal person,’ prosecutor says

In a secretly recorded police video from Aug. 6, suspects being held in a torture and kidnapping case, Joshua Bey (left) and Tamon Halfin watch as Your Black Muslim Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV demonstrates the Aug. 2 killing of Chauncey Bailey. "Pow, pow, poof," Bey IV says, throwing back his head. (Oakland Police Video)

In a secretly recorded police video from Aug. 6, suspects being held in a torture and kidnapping case, Joshua Bey (left) and Tamon Halfin watch as Your Black Muslim Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV demonstrates the Aug. 2 killing of Chauncey Bailey. "Pow, pow, poof," Bey IV says, throwing back his head. (Oakland Police Video)

By Thomas Peele, The Chauncey Bailey Project

OAKLAND — Former Your Black Muslim Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV “is not a normal person,” a prosecutor said Wednesday, portraying the 25-year-old as “a child king” who silenced journalist Chauncey Bailey in a blatant attempt to stop negative publicity.

Bey IV “thought he ran (Oakland),” prosecutor Melissa Krum told the jury of seven men and five women as closing statements began in Bey IV’s triple-murder trial. “He terrorized our city. He killed a reporter to stop his story or avenge stories already in print.”

Krum’s closing arguments are expected to take most of the morning. Bey IV and bakery member Antoine Mackey are facing life prison terms without the possibility of parole if convicted in the deaths of Oakland Post editor Bailey and two other men — Odell Roberson and Michael Wills — in unrelated shootings in summer 2007.

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KTVU-TV: Mackey testifies, denies involvement
Bay Area News Group: Chauncey Bailey murder trial Special Report
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Bey IV is accused of ordering the slayings, while Mackey is accused of killing Wills and of helping kill Bailey and Roberson. Bey IV and Mackey, also 25, have pleaded not guilty.

Witnesses testified that Bey IV wanted Bailey dead to stop him from publishing stories about the bakery’s financial trouble.

Contact 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