Who's in charge of investigating the handling of Chauncey Bailey's murder case? It seems to be a political hot potato, according to a new article from The Chauncey Bailey Project.
The California Attorney General's office recently sent a letter to Mayor Ron Dellums declaring that state investigators want to be present when Oakland police internal affairs detectives interview members of their command staff. But the Attorney General's office will not take over the entire investigation, which according to the letter, is what Oakland internal affairs investigators requested.
The Oakland police being investigated by internal affairs include Detective Sgt. Derwin Longmire, the lead investigator of Bailey's killing; his boss, homicide unit Lt. Ersie Joyner; and Deputy Chief Jeffrey Loman.
An article in the San Francisco Chronicle this week also added more details about police blunders in the Bailey murder case.
An eye-witness account of the actions and statements of Your Black Muslim Bakery's leader Yusuf Bey IV immediately before and after Bailey's shooting on August 2, 2007, apparently was put in a different case file. The eye-witness report surfaced two months ago when a prosecutor found it by chance after requesting access to the other file. The Chauncey Bailey Project reported that police ignored several key pieces of evidence, including this eye-witness account, in an October 25 story:
The Bailey Project has also learned that police have a statement from another bakery associate who said Bey IV called a meeting the night before the killing. He ordered his followers to pray for strength, said two police officers knowledgeable of the statement.
The bakery associate told police that Bey IV, Mackey and Broussard also prayed together separately and complained that they had to wake at 5 a.m. the next day. After the killing, there was a mood of celebration at the bakery, the associate told police. Officers asked that the person’s name not be revealed, saying disclosure could endanger the person’s life.
The Chronicle provided further details this week:
... A woman who worked at the black self-empowerment organization on San Pablo Avenue in Oakland had told police that bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV was in a celebratory mood at the news of Bailey's slaying on Aug. 2, 2007.
"That will teach 'em to f- with me," she quoted Bey as saying.
The woman also related how Bey was "not happy" with Bailey's reporting on the bakery's financial collapse, and said she had overheard a telephone conversation in which Bey and another man apparently were "scoping out" Bailey's whereabouts the day before the Oakland Post editor was shot to death on a downtown Oakland street.
Hours before the killing, she said, Bey awoke at 5 a.m. to pray.
Oakland police admitted to the blunder Monday. Deputy Chief Jeff Israel told the Chronicle that Sergeant Derwin Longmire, the lead detective investigating Bailey's murder, had been notified of the eye-witness account, but the detectives involved later decided the statement was not relevant to Bailey's case.
"We definitely made a mistake here, no question," Israel told the Chronicle. "It's very troubling ... After I've listened to the interview, it was obviously relevant."
The Overseas Press Club sent a letter to the California Attorney General in support of a re-investigation of Chauncey Bailey's murder:
November 17, 2008
Hon. Edmund G. Brown
Attorney General
California Department of Justice
P.O. Box 944255
Sacramento, CA 94244Attn: Public Inquiry Unit
Dear Mr. Attorney General:
The Overseas Press Club of America, a world-wide organization of six hundred international correspondents and editors, has been defending the rights of journalists around the world for nearly seven decades. It is rare that we find it necessary to speak out for freedom of the press in the United States. But the case of Chauncey Bailey, murdered editor of the Oakland Post, demands that we join the voices of so many others in calling for a fresh investigation of his murder. Now that you have agreed to open an investigation, as has the Alameda County District Attorney, we hope that this case can finally be resolved.
The Oakland police and the detective in charge of the investigation, Sargeant Longmire, have so muddled the investigation, shown favoritism and failed to bring out basic evidence that the case built up against Devaughndre Broussard seems unlikely to stand up in court. Sargeant Longmire had an association with Yusuf Bey IV, Broussard’s employer and head of the now-defunct, Your Black Muslim Bakery. Bey has a long criminal record and is now under arrest for a kidnapping. Within hours of the murder, Sgt. Longmire had decided to charge Broussard without bothering to follow up several important leads. Two years earlier, he had interfered on Bey’s behalf in two criminal investigations being conducted by other officers. Presumably, you are far more familiar with these and many other details than we are.
Our concern arises because a journalist has been silenced by murder. Bailey, as you know, had been investigating the Your Black Muslin Bakery. We note that Paul Cobb, publisher of the Post Newspaper Group, has since reported threats on his life. Some employees at the Oakland Post have quit for fear of violence, advertising is drying up and the paper itself may become a second victim of the assassination.
Murder is a common way of silencing journalists in some other countries but is fortunately rare in the United States. Chauncey Bailey’s case should not become an example of how to silence the press here. The mayor of Oakland has ordered a new investigation and at the same time requested your intervention. The mayor and others clearly believe, as we do, that this case should be investigated anew by an organization with the powers and prestige of your office.
We ask for the courtesy of an early reply.
Very truly yours,
Jeremy Main
Kevin McDermott
Freedom of the Press Committee
The Committee to Protect Journalists, an international organization that defends journalists worldwide, issued a statement today in support of the decision by California authorities to reinvestigate the Chauncey Bailey murder case:
From the CPJ website:
Bailey slaying to be investigated anew
New York, November 4, 2008--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the decision by California authorities to undertake additional investigations into the August 2007 murder of U.S. editor Chauncey Bailey.
The move follows a lengthy report by a consortium of San Francisco Bay-area news organizations and journalists known as the Chauncey Bailey Project. In an October 25 report, the group outlined alleged police irregularities in the investigation; other questions were raised earlier this year by the CBS News program "60 Minutes."
The alleged irregularities include a failure to pursue evidence that the murder was the product of a conspiracy. To date, one suspect has been charged in the crime. In a lengthy statement released on Saturday in response to the Chauncey Bailey Project report, Oakland police said the investigation has been handled appropriately. But the statement, authorized by Assistant Chief Howard Jordan, confirms several facts reported by the Chauncey Bailey Project.
The Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff told journalists last week that he would take the unusual step of assigning his own investigators to examine the case. On Thursday, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums asked California Attorney General Jerry Brown to open another investigation into the murder. "It is imperative that an investigative agency outside the city also conduct an investigation," he wrote in an October 30 letter to Brown. Dellums told journalists he was making the request in response to the report by the Chauncey Bailey Project.
"We welcome the additional investigations into the slaying of our colleague Chauncey Bailey," said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. "The report put together by Bay-area journalists raises a number of very important and troubling questions that must be resolved."
Bailey was killed three blocks from his office by a masked person firing a shotgun. At the time, the journalist was investigating the financial dealings of Your Black Muslim Bakery, a local business that was associated with criminal activities, according to one of his sources, Saleem Bey, who later appeared on "60 Minutes." Witnesses said they saw a driver waiting in a white getaway van at the time of the murder, according to the Chauncey Bailey Project.
Hours after the shooting, police analyzing shotgun shells found at the scene discovered the same weapon was suspected in a separate shooting linked to the bakery, according to the Chauncey Bailey Project. Oakland police confirmed in their statement Saturday that bakery associates were considered murder suspects within 24 hours of Bailey's slaying. Early on the morning after the killing, Oakland police raided the bakery and made several arrests on unrelated charges involving the kidnapping and torture of two women. Detectives began to question those suspects about the Bailey murder.
The lead detective, Sgt. Derwin Longmire, has had a long association with the proprietor of the bakery, Yusuf Bey IV, who is indicted on a series of unrelated felony charges. Assistant Chief Jordan told Anderson Cooper of "60 Minutes" in February that he was aware of Sgt. Longmire's longtime relationship with the suspect Yusuf Bey IV. Jordan said it was "unusual, but not unethical" for the sergeant to be assigned to the murder case.
Longmire did not respond to requests for an interview, according to the Chauncey Bailey Project. He did not immediately return a message left by CPJ seeking comment. The Oakland Police Department statement defended Longmire's handling of the case, saying that he properly pursued evidence and leads.
After police raided the bakery, Longmire put two of those arrested--Bey and bakery employee Devaughndre Broussard--together in an interrogation room by themselves, according to "60 Minutes." Oakland police did not record their subsequent conversation. Assistant Chief Jordan told "60 Minutes" that "in a perfect world" the conversation "should have" been recorded.
Broussard told "60 Minutes" that Bey pressured him to take responsibility for the murder during their conversation in the interrogation room. After the conversation, Broussard confessed to Bailey's murder, saying he had acted as a lone gunman. Broussard's statement to police was widely reported, but he later recanted after speaking with a lawyer. Broussard told "60 Minutes" that he was innocent, but that he knew who killed Bailey and that he would reveal this information at his own trial.
The Chauncey Bailey Project report raises questions about a tracking device as well. Police investigating alleged crimes unrelated to the Bailey murder had placed the device on Bey's car prior to the murder. Data from the device shows Bey's car being parked outside Bailey's apartment building seven hours before his murder, according to the Chauncey Bailey Project. Police sources told the group that Bey, Broussard, and a third man--bakery employee Antoine Mackey--were in the vehicle at the time. Mackey was among those arrested during the raid of the bakery.
The report from the Chauncey Bailey Project also questions whether Bey's cell phone records were analyzed. The Oakland police statement said that Sgt. Longmire sought the cell phone records in two search warrants, but that he had to wait for the cellular company to provide the records. The records have since been delivered to the Office of the Alameda district attorney. The Chauncey Bailey Project, which said it independently obtained the cell phone records, reported that Bey was involved in a series of calls within minutes of the killing, including one to Mackay. Mackay, according to the Chauncey Bailey Project, is currently incarcerated on an unrelated burglary. He has not commented publicly.
Also in its report, the Chauncey Bailey Project questions whether Oakland police followed up on a video of Bey speaking with two other men in an interrogation room at the San Leandro Police Department. The video, posted on the Web site of the Chauncey Bailey Project, has the imprint of the San Leandro Police Department including the date and time of recording. Much of the dialogue is difficult to understand, although the Chauncey Bailey Project enhanced the recording. Several key parts of the recorded video are clear. San Francisco Bay-area media outlets have broadcast the video.
The video shows Bey telling associates in the interrogation room that he put the gun used to kill Bailey in his closet after the shooting. On the video, Bey mocked the fatal blast to the journalist's head and boasted that Sgt. Longmire was protecting him from being charged. Bey also is heard saying that he and Longmire decided to blame Broussard alone for the murder.
The other suspects in the room are Bey's brother, Joshua, and Tamon Halfin, both of whom are associated with the bakery, according to the project. Police in the San Leandro Police Department recorded their conversation as part of their investigation in the kidnapping and torture case, according to the Chauncey Bailey Project. Once detectives saw that the recording included dialogue related to the Bailey murder, they turned over the tape over to homicide detectives.
While disputing several specific charges by the Chauncey Bailey Project, the Oakland police statement does not address why no other suspect besides the alleged gunman has been charged. Neither does the statement address the San Leandro police video. Asked by CPJ if Oakland police had any comment about the video, Public Information Officer Jeff Thomason said: "We're letting the statement speak for itself. We're not going to comment further."
Bey was asked by police on June 11, 2008, about the video, according to the Chauncey Bailey Project. He said he was trying to mislead police by making up stories, and he denied having any role in the Bailey murder.
The American Journalism Review features the Chauncey Bailey Project in its August/September issue, with senior writer Sherry Ricchiardi calling it "the biggest journalistic show of force since 1976."
From AJR:
During the past 10 months, media professionals in the Bay Area have taken collaborative journalism to new heights as they produced more than 140 stories related to Your Black Muslim Bakery and Bailey's assassination.
It's the biggest journalistic show of force since 1976, when reporter Don Bolles' car was blown up by a bomb while he was investigating organized crime in Phoenix. Journalists from all over the country gathered to continue Bolles' work under the banner of the Arizona Project.
At the first anniversary of Bailey's death, reporters continue to peel away layers of intrigue about a Bay Area crime family that for years confounded Oakland police and city officials. Leadership of Your Black Muslim Bakery, founded by Yusuf Ali Bey in 1971, has been implicated in such crimes as torture, murder and child rape.
As the project broke important stories, a one-for-all-and-all-for-one mentality took hold among the core group of reporters and news managers. "We're competitive with each other until something like this befalls one of us," says [Oakland Tribune reporter Josh] Richman, who has devoted large blocks of time to the investigation. "Then we work as a team to get to the truth."
More recent news on the Chauncey Bailey Project:
>The National Association of Black Journalists has honored the project with its Best Practices Award, reports the Oakland Tribune:
"It is horrendous when a journalist is killed for reporting on a story that needs to be told," said Barbara Ciara, president of the association. "This is really something that deserves to be honored, so it was an easy decision."
>The trial of Devaundre Broussard, the bakery handyman charged with murder in the 2007 slaying who since recanted, has been postponed. From the Oakland Tribune:
Judge C. Don Clay granted the delay to allow Broussard's attorney, LeRue Grim, more time to review evidence in the case. Clay set Sept. 19 for a hearing to set a trial date.
According to Grim, the secret police video released by the Chauncey Bailey Project on June 18 may exonerate his client. From KCBS:
Grim claims law enforcement videotape shows Devaughndre Broussard was ordered by Yusuf Bey IV, the leader of the now-defunct Your Black Muslim Bakery, to falsely confess to Bailey's murder.
Watch the video or share it with others on Vimeo, YouTube or blip.tv.
See more stories by the Chauncey Bailey Project.
Police in Santa Barbara, California, have reopened an investigation into the unsolved 1968 shooting deaths of a couple linked to the late founder of Your Black Muslim Bakery.
The couple were members of the same Santa Barbara mosque as the Oakland bakery's founder, Yusuf Ali Bey. Bey died in 2003; his brother, who was the focus of the original police investigation into the killings, now lives in Oakland, California.
Police reopened the case after inquiries by The Chauncey Bailey Project, a coalition of Bay Area journalists investigating the assassination of slain Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey. Bailey was killed August 2 while investigating Your Black Muslim Bakery's finances and internal disputes.
Police are looking for connections between the 1968 slayings and Bailey's case.
>> Read the full article on the Chauncey Bailey Project's website.
The 2007 awards from Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. were announced today. Two awards went to CIR associates: The Chauncey Bailey Project and Loretta Tofani. Tofani reporting was partially funded by CIR's Dick Goldensohn Fund for International Investigative Reporting, and CIR is a media partner in The Chauncey Bailey Project reporting team.
The Chauncey Bailey Project received the Tom Renner Award for investigating the slain Oakland Post editor and continuing his reporting on the Your Black Muslim Bakery in Oakland. The IRE judges commented:
These stories would have been difficult to pursue under any circumstances, but it took extreme dedication to get at the truth following the assassination of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey. In the tradition of the Arizona Project, this coalition of Bay area journalists delved into questionable real estate deals and contracts involving the owners of Your Muslim Bakery in Oakland. The reporters raised questions about the thoroughness of a police investigation into the group before Bailey's murder. They probed the interrogation and confession of Bailey's alleged killer. And they carried on the work that Bailey intended to pursue before his death.
Reporter Loretta Tofani also received an IRE medal, the highest honor bestowed by the organization, for her Salt Lake Tribune series "American imports, Chinese deaths." The judges commented:
This ambitious project shows that the mundane creature comforts of American lives have debilitating and sometimes deadly consequences for the people of China who make them. Freelance reporter Tofani and The Salt Lake Tribune take readers to manufacturing plants where young workers touch and inhale carcinogens without gloves, masks or proper ventilation in order to make cheap products that are shipped to America. Through powerful writing, tenacious investigative reporting in often dangerous situations, Tofani exposes the abuse of Chinese workers while American industry conveniently fails to discover bogus safety audits and fake record keeping. Over 15 months of reporting, freelance reporter Tofani analyzed hundreds of pages of records written in Chinese and gained the trust of workers in a closed society. We are inspired by her determination, impressed with her precision and awed by the compassion she brought to this important work.
Tofani wrote about the twists and turns of her reporting process in a Reporter's Notebook for The Muckraker Blog: "How I got the story." In the essay she explains that becoming a furniture importer gave her access to Chinese factories on a level that she never had as a journalist:
I had only been inside the factory for about 15 minutes. But it was enough. I thanked the sales manager. Once outside, I had trouble swallowing. My throat felt tight. I knew that Chinese oil-based paint contained lead. I began wondering about the workers: Didn't they get lung cancer?
In a 60 Minutes report, Anderson Cooper looks into the history of Your Black Muslim Bakery and the circumstances surrounding Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey's murder.
The report includes footage of bakery members performing a "show of force" military drill and interviews with those involved, including accused gunman Devaughndre Broussard.
Broussard tells 60 Minutes he didn't shoot Bailey, and that bakery leader Yusef Bey IV told him he had to "take the fall."
>> Watch the 60 Minutes report: "The Murder of Chancey Bailey"
The latest story by the Chauncey Bailey Project chronicles the methodical investigation by Oakland police officer Jim Saleda, who cracked the case against Black Muslim Bakery patriarch Yusuf Bey for his abuse of women and girls.
Also, check out The Chauncey Bailey Project's slick new website, which archives all of the print, audio, and video stories produced so far.
Sometimes the most dangerous stories are the small ones: Local stories on ethnic minorities that get little coverage in the mainstream media.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit "dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide," 11 of the 13 journalists murdered in the United States since 1976 were killed in apparent retaliation for their reporting on ethnic minorities.
An article in the San Francisco Chronicle points out that three of those murders happened in the Bay Area. The most recent being the murder of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey, who was reporting on the scandals and financial problems at Your Black Muslim Bakery, "a black-owned business and self-empowerment group." Bailey was gunned down in the street in Oakland on August 2, 2007.
From the Chronicle story:
"It's exactly that kind of person who covers the local community in a grassroots level who is most vulnerable to these kinds of attacks," said Abi Wright, a spokesperson for the [Committee to Protect Journalists]. She said writers are more at risk than broadcasters. "It's not the leading guy for the leading newspaper in the country. It's the guy who's covering his local community ... they're closer to the story. They don't have the institutional protections from a larger news organization."
According to the article, the other two Bay Area murders were:
Lam Trong Duong, who had written stories in a Vietnamese language newsletter supportive of the communist government of Vietnam, was shot in 1981 near his apartment in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood. A group of anti-communist Vietnamese claimed responsibility for the slaying. Henry Liu, author of a Chinese-language book accusing Taiwanese officials of corruption, was killed in 1984 in his Daly City home by hit men hired by the Taiwanese government.
>> Read "Grassroots ethnic reporting a perilous calling" on SFGate.com.
>> Read CPJ's report about journalists killed worldwide in 2007.
The Chauncey Bailey Project reports in the Oakland Tribune today:
Your Black Muslim Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV denies any role in the killing of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey and other violent crimes linked to the organization, claiming he has been set up by relatives and associates trying to seize the organization's reins.
In an exclusive interview Wednesday at Alameda County's Santa Rita county jail in Dublin, where he has been held since Aug. 3, the Bey family scion said it makes no sense for him to be involved in violent crimes of any kind because he was on the verge of getting the bakery business out of bankruptcy.
Court records would seem to belie Bey IV's assurances of social civility, as he has amassed at least nine court cases in four counties in just 2 1/2 years.