Two indictments in Chauncey Bailey murder

Indictments came down on Wednesday in the murder of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey, who was shot on an Oakland, Calif., street in August 2007. An Alameda County grand jury indicted the leader of the now-closed Your Black Muslim Bakery, Yusuf Bey, on charges that he ordered Bailey killed. 

The Associated Press reported that Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Chris Lamiero said Antoine Mackey, 23, was also indicted in connection with the murder. Bey faces charges in connection with two other murders as well, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Previously, authorities had charged only Devaughndre Broussard, a former handyman at the bakery, in the Bailey murder. The Chronicle reported that in exchange for giving testimony to the grand jury on April 20 and 21, Broussard struck a deal with prosecutors in which he will plead guilty to two counts of voluntary manslaughter for the killings of Bailey and another man.

CPJ’s Frank Smyth pointed out in his recent blog entry on the case that “irregularities in the Oakland police investigation into the murder of one of the Bay area’s most respected community journalists rivaled the botched or compromised murder investigations in nations from Mexico to Mozambique.” 

Only one in 10 journalist murders worldwide results in any convictions; just one in 20 results in convictions of those who ordered the murder.