Bey Brother Admits to Lie in Court

A half-brother of Your Black Muslim Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV  admitted today that he lied two years ago in the preliminary hearing in a case in which bakery members are accused of kidnapping and torturing two  women in Oakland.
     
In his fourth day on the witness stand in the trial of bakery  associate Richard Lewis, Joshua Bey admitted that he had a gun when he left the Oakland house where the two women allegedly were beaten on May 17, 2007, in an attempt to find out where drug dealers they knew were keeping their money.
     
Lewis's attorney, Patrick Hetrick, read a portion of the  transcript of the preliminary hearing in 2008 in which Bey, 21, said he didn't have a gun.
     
When Hetrick asked Bey if his 2008 testimony was a lie, Bey said, "Yes."
     
Lewis, a 25-year-old former football star at Mission High School in San Francisco, is the first bakery member to stand trial in the kidnapping and torture case.
     
Yusuf Bey IV and Tamon Halfin, another member, are slated to be  prosecuted together at a later date. All three defendants face life in prison if they're convicted.
     
Joshua Bey and another half-brother, Yusuf Bey V, were also  charged in connection with the alleged kidnapping and torture case, but they both pleaded guilty to lesser charges and were promised short prison  sentences in exchange for their testimony against Lewis, Halfin and Bey IV.
     
Before Bey IV stands trial in the kidnapping and torture trial, he  is first scheduled to stand trial in May on three counts of murder for allegedly ordering the murder of journalist Chauncey Bailey and two other men in Oakland in July and August of 2007.
     
Prosecutor Chris Lamiero said in his opening statement that the  bakery faced serious financial problems in 2007 and Bey IV wanted to kidnap the women so they would lead them to drug dealer friends who had a lot of cash.
     
Joshua Bey testified on Monday that Bey IV said the bakery would  get up to $30,000 by stealing cash from the drug dealers.
     
The bakery went bankrupt and closed its doors in late 2007.
 

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