Chauncey Bailey Murder Trial Nears End,
Oakland Police Drama Begins
As the Chauncey Bailey Murder trial wraps up, the long suspected Oakland police role in the murder investigation is being uncovered. Oakland Post Newspaper Publisher Paul Cobb and the Black Chauncey Bailey Project organizer Marvin X have long called for an investigation of the OPD's role in the assassination of Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey.
The "white" Chauncey Bailey Project has resisted investigating the alleged police role in the assassination of Chauncey Bailey, focusing singularly on the indictment of the Black Muslim Bakery Brothers as the sole culprits, even though at the outset of the editor's assassination in broad daylight, Post Publisher Paul Cobb told the OPD that Chauncey was not only investigating the activities of YBMB, but more importantly, the alleged activities of corruption by African American members of the OPD.
He informed the DA Tom Orloff of his feelings. Not only did Orloff reject Cobb's assertion, but he resigned shortly after the killing. Police Chief Tucker resigned or retired as well.
Before he resigned, Chief Tucker suggested if Cobb wanted the OPD to pursue police involvement in the assassination of Chauncey, Cobb should get himself a bullet proof vest.
When Paul Cobb suggested the "White" Chauncey Bailey Project should also pursue police involvement, embedded OPD crime writer Harry Harris suggested Cobb was out of his mind. Cobb suggests Harris has been hanging around in the OPD locker room too long.
It is clear that Harry Harris has been embedded with the OPD far beyond any objective usefulness. The same may be true for Oakland Tribune Editor Martin Reynalds who related to Black Chauncey Bailey Project organizer Marvin X that the OPD had fine officers, especially Lt. Longmire, chief investigator of the Bailey killing as well as mentor of the murder suspects who was temporarily relieved of his duties due to conflict of interest. He was in charge of the crime scene and led the raid of the bakery, securing the murder weapon and a confession in less than 24 hours after the murder of Chauncey.
When Marvin X published the conversation he had with Oakland Tribune Editor Reynolds during a lunch meeting, Reynolds threatened to throw a Molotov Cocktail at Marvin X, one of the most prolific writers in America and the world. Marvin wrote eight books last year and is considered the USA's Rumi (Bob Holman), Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland (Ishmael Reed), the father of Muslim American literature (Dr. Mohja Kahf), one of the founders and innovators of the revolutionary school of African writing (Amiri Baraka).
As the murder trial concludes, it appears the OPD drama is just beginning. KTVU television reported last night that a long suspected cover up in the Bailey murder investigation has been uncovered.
Because of his association with those indicted for the murder of Chauncey, there are persons who think Marvin X's assertions are tainted. Marvin X rejects this. After all, Chauncey was his friend as well. One of his last stories was a review of Marvin's book How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy.
--Marvin X
the Black Chauncey Bailey Project
http://www.theblackchaunceybaileyproject.blogspot.com
5/19/11
OPD Cover-Up Emerges
In Bailey Murder Investigation
Posted: 9:10 pm PDT May 18, 2011
Updated: 9:43 am PDT May 19, 2011
OAKLAND, Calif. -- As the eight-week trial of the alleged mastermind of the Chauncey Bailey murder heads to the jury this week, KTVU Channel 2 News has obtained hundreds of pages of legal documents never seen publicly that explain for the first time the inside story of the controversial homicide investigation.
It's a story that KTVU has largely been prevented from telling because of a gag order imposed by the command staff of the Oakland Police Department.
The documents paint a troubling picture of former top commanders at Oakland police misleading the public about several key aspects of the Bailey case.
On December 15, 2008, then-Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker called a highly unusual press conference to respond to a story revealing what may have been the single biggest turn in the assassination of Bay Area journalist Chauncey Bailey.
That was the discovery that Tucker had delayed for two days a massive police raid scheduled for August 1st, 2007 on the violent "Your Black Muslim Bakery" so a member of the chief's command staff could extend a camping trip.
But the next day, August 2nd, a self-described "soldier" from the bakery gunned down Bailey in cold blood on a downtown Oakland street. The delayed raid then took place on August 3rd, the day after the murder.
The documents contain charges that Tucker and his command staff held a private meeting just before the press conference, where they agreed to cover-up that decision when they met the news media.
In the sworn statement KTVU has obtained, an Oakland police captain testified he was in that meeting and spoke to the chief about what he regarded as a lie:
Captain Ersie Joyner: "Chief Tucker was adamant that we had only one date set and there was never two dates."
Attorney: "And to your knowledge, did Chief Tucker know that there were two dates, August 1st and then August 3rd?"
Joyner: "Yes."
Attorney: "Was there anyone else in that meeting with Chief Tucker and Chief Jordan and others who believed that the department had knowledge of the two dates, August 1st and August 3rd?"
Joyner: "Yes."
Attorney: "After that press conference, did you talk to Chief Tucker about what you perceived to be a dishonest statement?"
Joyner. "Yes."
San Francisco attorney John Scott, who is bringing a lawsuit against the city of Oakland on behalf of the lead investigator of the Bailey murder, says Tucker’s action goes to the heart of a story never heard before -- until now.
"The department, I believe, had its own sense of guilt or believed it had its own sense of guilt or responsibility for the murder because the department was supposed to execute a warrant on the Black Muslim Bakery on August 1st, the day before the murder." Scott said. "Now, no one is suggesting or implying the department intended to kill Chauncey Bailey."
Scott is representing Oakland police Sgt. Derwin Longmire, who has been under a gag order by the chief's office since the fall of 2007.
Longmire has never spoken to the news media about the Chauncey Bailey case. He also declined to speak to KTVU for this story.
But KTVU Channel 2 News has obtained sworn statements by Longmire and other Oakland police officials, some testifying that Sgt. Longmire has been unjustly painted as the scapegoat for the Bailey homicide investigation.
Tucker's assistant chief, Howard Jordan, launched internal investigations against Longmire because he believed the homicide investigator had become far too close to the Black Muslim Bakery and didn't tell his boss or colleagues what he was doing.
Recorded phone conversations between Longmire and Yusef Bey IV shortly after Bailey's murder indicate they had a close relationship:
"Nobody has the right to say we can't be friends because you know what I mean," Bey can be heard saying in one recorded call.
To which Longmire replied: "You know what, I totally agree. I totally agree. I feel that way wholeheartedly."
The documents KTVU obtained, however, have sworn testimony from Longmire's immediate supervisor saying he had ordered Longmire to take those actions and that the district attorney also knew -- and approved -- of them.
Longmire's lawsuit charges the Oakland police brass with discriminating against him and it uses sworn statements such as this one by Assistant Chief Howard Jordan to attempt to prove he made biased assumptions:
Attorney: "Did you believe that Sgt. Longmire had compromised the investigation because of that relationship with either the Black Muslims or the bakery?"
Jordan: "Yes."
Attorney: "At the time of the Chauncey Bailey murder, did you believe that Sergeant Longmire was associated with the Black Muslim Bakery?"
Jordan: "Yes."
However, the documents also include evidence that Longmire was not protecting the Black Muslims, showing that as early as five years before Bailey was shot Sgt. Longmire warned the police command staff that the bakery was a criminal enterprise and needed to be cleaned up.
No serious, sustained action was taken on those repeated warnings until it was too late.
The department moved to fire Longmire in May 2009.
After a series of internal investigations, Longmire was ultimately exonerated.
But even then, the Oakland command staff offered Longmire his job back only if he promised not to sue. He refused, and filed his lawsuit in April 2010.
Although Longmire is still prohibited from discussing the Bailey case, he did talk to KTVU when he filed his lawsuit against the department.
"There was so much media attention that when questions came up they couldn't answer about mistakes early on, for them there was no other way but to let it fall on someone and that someone was me," said Longmire.
Assistant Chief Howard Jordan declined to comment on this story through a letter from an attorney representing the city of Oakland.
A phone call to former chief Wayne Tucker, now a civilian, asking for his perspective on the allegations in these new documents brought this brief response:
"I have nothing to say to your s***** station,” Tucker declared. “Why don't you publish that? You should publish that."
The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in February 2012.
Posted: 9:10 pm PDT May 18, 2011
Updated: 9:43 am PDT May 19, 2011
OAKLAND, Calif. -- As the eight-week trial of the alleged mastermind of the Chauncey Bailey murder heads to the jury this week, KTVU Channel 2 News has obtained hundreds of pages of legal documents never seen publicly that explain for the first time the inside story of the controversial homicide investigation.
It's a story that KTVU has largely been prevented from telling because of a gag order imposed by the command staff of the Oakland Police Department.
The documents paint a troubling picture of former top commanders at Oakland police misleading the public about several key aspects of the Bailey case.
On December 15, 2008, then-Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker called a highly unusual press conference to respond to a story revealing what may have been the single biggest turn in the assassination of Bay Area journalist Chauncey Bailey.
That was the discovery that Tucker had delayed for two days a massive police raid scheduled for August 1st, 2007 on the violent "Your Black Muslim Bakery" so a member of the chief's command staff could extend a camping trip.
But the next day, August 2nd, a self-described "soldier" from the bakery gunned down Bailey in cold blood on a downtown Oakland street. The delayed raid then took place on August 3rd, the day after the murder.
The documents contain charges that Tucker and his command staff held a private meeting just before the press conference, where they agreed to cover-up that decision when they met the news media.
In the sworn statement KTVU has obtained, an Oakland police captain testified he was in that meeting and spoke to the chief about what he regarded as a lie:
Captain Ersie Joyner: "Chief Tucker was adamant that we had only one date set and there was never two dates."
Attorney: "And to your knowledge, did Chief Tucker know that there were two dates, August 1st and then August 3rd?"
Joyner: "Yes."
Attorney: "Was there anyone else in that meeting with Chief Tucker and Chief Jordan and others who believed that the department had knowledge of the two dates, August 1st and August 3rd?"
Joyner: "Yes."
Attorney: "After that press conference, did you talk to Chief Tucker about what you perceived to be a dishonest statement?"
Joyner. "Yes."
San Francisco attorney John Scott, who is bringing a lawsuit against the city of Oakland on behalf of the lead investigator of the Bailey murder, says Tucker’s action goes to the heart of a story never heard before -- until now.
"The department, I believe, had its own sense of guilt or believed it had its own sense of guilt or responsibility for the murder because the department was supposed to execute a warrant on the Black Muslim Bakery on August 1st, the day before the murder." Scott said. "Now, no one is suggesting or implying the department intended to kill Chauncey Bailey."
Scott is representing Oakland police Sgt. Derwin Longmire, who has been under a gag order by the chief's office since the fall of 2007.
Longmire has never spoken to the news media about the Chauncey Bailey case. He also declined to speak to KTVU for this story.
But KTVU Channel 2 News has obtained sworn statements by Longmire and other Oakland police officials, some testifying that Sgt. Longmire has been unjustly painted as the scapegoat for the Bailey homicide investigation.
Tucker's assistant chief, Howard Jordan, launched internal investigations against Longmire because he believed the homicide investigator had become far too close to the Black Muslim Bakery and didn't tell his boss or colleagues what he was doing.
Recorded phone conversations between Longmire and Yusef Bey IV shortly after Bailey's murder indicate they had a close relationship:
"Nobody has the right to say we can't be friends because you know what I mean," Bey can be heard saying in one recorded call.
To which Longmire replied: "You know what, I totally agree. I totally agree. I feel that way wholeheartedly."
The documents KTVU obtained, however, have sworn testimony from Longmire's immediate supervisor saying he had ordered Longmire to take those actions and that the district attorney also knew -- and approved -- of them.
Longmire's lawsuit charges the Oakland police brass with discriminating against him and it uses sworn statements such as this one by Assistant Chief Howard Jordan to attempt to prove he made biased assumptions:
Attorney: "Did you believe that Sgt. Longmire had compromised the investigation because of that relationship with either the Black Muslims or the bakery?"
Jordan: "Yes."
Attorney: "At the time of the Chauncey Bailey murder, did you believe that Sergeant Longmire was associated with the Black Muslim Bakery?"
Jordan: "Yes."
However, the documents also include evidence that Longmire was not protecting the Black Muslims, showing that as early as five years before Bailey was shot Sgt. Longmire warned the police command staff that the bakery was a criminal enterprise and needed to be cleaned up.
No serious, sustained action was taken on those repeated warnings until it was too late.
The department moved to fire Longmire in May 2009.
After a series of internal investigations, Longmire was ultimately exonerated.
But even then, the Oakland command staff offered Longmire his job back only if he promised not to sue. He refused, and filed his lawsuit in April 2010.
Although Longmire is still prohibited from discussing the Bailey case, he did talk to KTVU when he filed his lawsuit against the department.
"There was so much media attention that when questions came up they couldn't answer about mistakes early on, for them there was no other way but to let it fall on someone and that someone was me," said Longmire.
Assistant Chief Howard Jordan declined to comment on this story through a letter from an attorney representing the city of Oakland.
A phone call to former chief Wayne Tucker, now a civilian, asking for his perspective on the allegations in these new documents brought this brief response:
"I have nothing to say to your s***** station,” Tucker declared. “Why don't you publish that? You should publish that."
The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in February 2012.
Copyright 2011 by KTVU.com. All rights reserved.
