Yusuf Bey IV, who is about to go on trial for allegedly ordering the murders of Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey and two other men, used his attorney to smuggle a witness “hit list” out of jail, according to an affidavit obtained by the Chauncey Bailey Project.

KTVU reports that two of those witnesses have been placed in protective custody.

According to the affidavit filed Tuesday, Bey’s previous lawyer — Lorna Patton Brown — “smuggled written communication and materials out of Santa Rita Jail (in Dublin) without the authorization of the sheriff’s department and delivered the unlawful communication to others.”

On one of the documents she smuggled out of the jail “witnesses’ names had been highlighted” so that (a hit man) would know who “he would have to kill so they would not be available to testify at Bey IV’s pending murder trial,” states the affidavit written by Inspector Kathleen Boyovich of the Alameda County district attorney’s office.