OAKLAND (BCN) -- Former Your Black Muslim Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV and  co-defendant Antoine Mackey are scheduled to stand trial May 17 on three  counts of murder for the deaths of journalist Chauncey Bailey and two other  men in the summer of 2007.

Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Chris Lamiero said Bey and  Mackey, both 23, also are scheduled to appear in court May 3, two weeks  before their trial is to start, in case their attorneys seek to have their  trial moved to another county because of the extensive publicity their case  has received.

Lamiero said attorneys for Bey and Mackey have discussed the  possibility of filing a change of venue motion but haven't done so.

Their trial date was set at a hearing Oct. 28.

On April 29, an Alameda County grand jury indicted Bey and Mackey  on three counts of murder each for the death of Bailey, the editor of the  Oakland Post, on Aug. 2, 2007, as well as for the deaths of Odell Roberson  Jr. and Michael Wills the previous month.

The grand jury also indicted former bakery handyman Devaughndre  Broussard, 21, on two counts of murder for the killings of Bailey and  Roberson.

But Broussard pleaded guilty on May 7 to two counts of the lesser  charge of voluntary manslaughter and is slated to get a sentence of 25 years  if he testifies truthfully against Bey and Mackey.

According to his attorney, LeRue Grim, Broussard has admitted that  he killed Bailey and Roberson but says that Bey ordered him to do so.

In a statement that Broussard gave to prosecutors on March 23 and  24, he said Bey wanted him to kill Bailey because Bey was upset about an  article that Bailey was planning to write about the bakery's financial  problems. Shortly after Bailey was killed the bakery became bankrupt and went  out of business.

Bey appeared in court again today for a brief hearing on a  separate case in which he and several associates are accused of kidnapping  and torturing two women in Oakland two years ago to try to get money from  them.

Lamiero said Bey won't stand trial in that case until after his  murder case is completed. He said Bey and co-defendant Tamon Halfin, 21, are  scheduled to return to court Dec. 7 to have future court dates set on that  case.

Another co-defendant, Richard Lewis, 23, a former football star at  Mission High School in San Francisco, is scheduled to stand trial separately  Jan. 4.

Two of Bey's half-brothers were also charged in the kidnapping and  torture case but have already admitted their guilt in plea agreements.

On Jan. 29, 2008, Joshua Bey, 20, pleaded guilty against Bey IV, Halfin and Lewis.

On June 19, Yusuf Bey V, 22, pleaded no contest to one count of  kidnapping.

His plea agreement calls for him to be sentenced to 10 years in  state prison if he testifies truthfully against Lewis.
     
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