Bey IV

Bailey

Jeff Shuttleworth of Bay City News reports that former Your Black Muslim leader Yusuf Bey IV was convicted today of three counts of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of journalist Chauncey Bailey and two other men in Oakland in the summer of 2007.

Bakery associate Antoine Mackey was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, but jurors deadlocked on a third murder charge against him. A mistrial was declared on that charge.

The seven-woman, five-man Alameda County jury delivered its verdict against Bey and Mackey, both 25, after deliberating for 10 days.

Prosecutor Melissa Krum told jurors that Bey ordered the killing of Bailey, 57, to prevent him from writing an article about the bakery’s financial problems.

The bakery was in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings when Bailey was gunned down near the corner of 14th and Alice streets in downtown Oakland on Aug. 2, 2007, and closed its doors later that year.

Krum said Bey was also upset at Bailey for writing articles about the child molestation charges that his father, bakery founder Yusuf Bey, was facing at the time of his death at age 67 in 2003. (Photo credit: AP for both photos.)