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Alert

Bay Area journalists find more troubling irregularities in Chauncey Bailey murder investigation

(RSF/IFEX) - The Chauncey Bailey Project, a cooperative effort among San Francisco Bay Area journalists to investigate the August 2007 murder of "Oakland Post" editor Chauncey Bailey, has revealed important new information about the case in a series of articles posted on the project's website, http://www.chaunceybaileyproject.org .

After extensively reviewing documents with the help of legal and criminal experts, the independent investigation concluded that Derwin Longmire, the lead detective in charge of the case, left out important information linking Yusuf Bey IV, the head of a local community bakery chain called Your Black Muslim Bakery, to the murder. A police tracking device placed Bey outside Bailey's house a few hours before the murder, which Longmire omitted from his case report.

The investigation also found that the relationship between Bey and Longmire, who have been friendly since 2005, was clearly a conflict of interest. Since Bailey had been investigating the bakery at the time of his murder, Bey should have been considered an important suspect. Instead, Longmire brought in Bey to help obtain a confession from DeVaughndre Broussard, a bakery employee.

Broussard confessed to carrying out the murder alone, but subsequently retracted. Telephone records also show that Bey and Longmire have contacted each other many times since the murder. The Alameda County district attorney's office has begun its own investigation to determine if there was a conspiracy to murder Bailey.

Reporters Without Borders supports the efforts of the Chauncey Bailey Project and has launched a petition calling for an independent investigation by the federal authorities: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28033 .

Updates the Bailey case: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/95861