OAKLAND, Calif., March 25 (UPI) -- A former community leader in Oakland, Calif., went on trial this week on charges that he ordered the killing of black newspaperman Chauncey Bailey.
Yusuf Bey IV, 25, the last head of Your Black Muslim Bakery, is also charged with arranging a second killing, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. An associate, Antoine Mackey, 25, is also on trial.
The week ended with testimony Thursday from a key prosecution witness. Devaughndre Broussard, who admitted killing Bailey, told jurors about his recruitment to Your Black Muslim Bakery and said Bey gave him an alternative to "hanging out on the streets" after his release from prison.
Broussard, who says he killed another man on Bey's orders, agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in return for a 25-year sentence for aggravated manslaughter.
Bailey, editor of the weekly Oakland Post, was killed with three blasts from a shotgun as he walked to work in 2007. Bey allegedly wanted him dead because he had investigated his organization's finances.
Your Black Muslim Bakery had been an Oakland fixture since 1971. But the group apparently started to fall apart after its founder, Yusuf Bey, died in 2003.
Broussard is expected to resume testify further when the trial resumes Monday, the newspaper said.
