People v. Mackey

• Decision Date: 14 January 2015
• Docket Number: A133129
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Antoine MACKEY et al., Defendants and Appellants.

233 Cal.App.4th 32

182 Cal.Rptr.3d 401

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.Antoine MACKEY et al., Defendants and Appellants.

A133129

Court of Appeal, First District, Division 2, California.

Filed January 14, 2015

See 4 Witkin & Epstein, Cal. Criminal Law (4th ed. 2012) Jurisdiction and Venue, § 71.

Alameda County Superior Court. Honorable Thomas M. Reardon. (Alameda County Super. Ct. No. 160939A, B)

Cliff Gardner, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Bey

Philip M. Brooks, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Mackey

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Catherine A. Rivlin, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, Allen R. Crown, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent

Richman, J.

This case involves the brazen daytime shotgun murder of prize-winning journalist Chauncey Bailey, as well as the murders of two other men, Michael Wills and Odel Roberson. Codefendants Antoine Mackey (Mackey) and Yusuf Bey IV (Bey) were charged with all three murders. (Pen.Code, § 187.) Mackey was also charged as a felon in possession of a firearm (§ 12021, subd. (a)(1)),¹ and Bey was charged with shooting at an unoccupied vehicle in a separate incident that predated the murders. (§ 247, subd. (b).) In a joint single jury trial Mackey was convicted of two counts of first degree murder (those of Bailey and Wills), and Bey was convicted of all three first degree murders, with special circumstance findings of multiple murders on each of the murder convictions for both defendants. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(3).) Mackey was sentenced to two life terms without possibility of parole, and Bey was given three life terms without parole.

Both defendants appeal, asserting error in both pretrial and trial proceedings. With respect to pretrial rulings, both defendants claim a change of venue motion was improperly denied and argue tracking evidence from a global positioning system (GPS) should have been suppressed. Mackey further claims a severance motion should have been granted. With respect to trial, both defendants claim instructional error in various particulars and ineffective assistance of counsel based on failure to request a limiting instruction. Bey further argues there was insufficient evidence to support the Wills murder conviction, and both defendants claim the convictions on that count must be reversed because they rested on uncorroborated accomplice testimony. Finally, both defendants claim cumulative error requires reversal.

We conclude that denial of the change of venue motion did not result in an unfair trial, and refusal to sever Mackey's case was not an abuse of discretion. Because California case law allowed warrantless placement of a GPS device by law enforcement at the time the device was placed, the fact that the United States Supreme Court has since held such conduct requires a warrant does not dictate exclusion of the tracking evidence in this case. As for the claimed instructional errors and related ineffective assistance of counsel claim, we find either no error or no prejudice with respect to each contention. The evidence of the Wills murder was sufficient to sustain Bey's conviction, and the accomplice testimony rule did not apply because the witness was not an accomplice. Necessarily, the cumulative error rule does not pertain. We thus affirm.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

A. The Prosecution Evidence

1. Your Black Muslim Bakery and its occupants

Bey's father, Yusuf Bey, Sr. (Yusuf, Sr.) founded Your Black Muslim Bakery (the Bakery), and for decades was the head of the Bakery and affiliated companies, which included a security business and a community school.² Yusuf, Sr. died in September or October 2003. For some period prior to his death he was in poor health, and Waajid Bey (Waajid), an accountant and tax expert who served on multiple corporate boards of the affiliated Bakery businesses, was named chief executive officer (CEO) and President of the Bakery. Waajid died in February 2004, just a year after taking control of the Bakery.

Bey's brother Antar Bey (Antar) then took control of the Bakery, at age 23. Other Bey family members took issue with this, left the Bakery business, and filed suit to try to prove that Antar's takeover was fraudulent. Antar was killed in October 2005.

After Antar's death, Bey took control of the Bakery, becoming CEO. He was 19 years old.

The downstairs of the Bakery building consisted of a retail counter, baking area, and office area, with an entrance at 5836 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland. The upstairs was a residence that could be accessed from either front stairs or back stairs near a parking area. There was a large living room at the top of the stairs, and several bedrooms. Bey occupied the master bedroom.

A duplex in the rear of the Bakery had two units, one upstairs and one downstairs, with three bedrooms. The first lower-unit bedroom was occupied by Mackey, the second bedroom by Devaughndre Broussard (Broussard), and the third by Malachi Hurst.

As will be seen, Broussard played a crucial role in this case in that he was the shooter in the Bailey and Roberson murders and one of the shooters in the car shooting. Broussard had a criminal history: he committed a strong-arm robbery with others when he was a minor, and he was convicted of assault on a bus passenger as an adult. Broussard turned state's witness in exchange for a sentence of 25 years, avoiding a life term without parole. He testified at length, for some six days, and it was largely through his testimony that the state was able to produce evidence of the details of the crimes and the roles played by various other participants.

Broussard had heard about Bey and the Bakery from a family friend, Richard Lewis (Lewis), when they were in jail together. Lewis told him Bey needed “soldiers” to serve the Black community, and in exchange Bey could ensure that his soldiers would get “good credit to buy whatever you want.” When he was released from jail, Broussard went to live at the Bakery.

Broussard started working at the Bakery in July 2006, serving as a janitor and providing security. Broussard described being searched and led in military-style drills when he first arrived at the Bakery. He also testified about being introduced to Bey and his brothers, and described the security system and cameras installed in Bey's bedroom. In their initial meeting Bey talked about “eye for an eye” revenge and said that if somebody did something wrong, they deserved to get the same treatment in return. Broussard came to understand that he would be expected to commit crimes as part of his “job” at the Bakery, but he went along with it because of the credit assistance he had been promised. Broussard was told he needed to stay free of drugs and alcohol.

Bey regularly gave sermons at the Bakery, speaking on the history of the Black man and the “devils” or “White devils” who sabotaged Islam. There were also regular meetings in security training, which included military style drills.

2. Liquor store vandalism and the Mossberg shotgun

Bey took over the Bakery in late 2005. On November 23, 2005, about a dozen Bakery men wearing suits and bow ties, including Bey, Donald Cunningham, Dyamen Williams (Williams), and Dhakir (Zaki), vandalized two Muslim-owned West Oakland liquor stores by smashing bottles and equipment, done to show their disapproval of selling alcohol in the African–American community. The men assaulted at least one liquor store employee and took a Mossberg shotgun from underneath a counter at one of the stores. It was stipulated that after the murders in this case Bey was convicted in a separate proceeding of stealing the Mossberg shotgun.

3. The Cook car shooting

Bey's “second wife,” Jasmine Siaw (Siaw), had two children with Cameron Cook (Cook). Siaw testified that Cook did not like having his children raised at the Bakery, and on one occasion in late 2006 he made an angry phone call to Siaw, and she heard gunshots in the background. It turned out that Cook was shooting a gun into the air outside the Bakery. Bey wanted to do something in response, but Siaw did not want Cook to be hurt, so Bey decided to shoot up Cook's car.

Siaw was present on December 7, 2006, when Bey told Yusuf V, “Let's talk about what we're going to do.” Sometime past midnight that night, Bey took Siaw in his BMW to the spot where Cook's car was parked, not far from the Bakery. Siaw saw about four or five men associated with the Bakery leave at the same time in a yellow Cadillac. Tommy Hearns (Hearns) was driving the Cadillac, with Broussard and two other Bakery men, Bey's brother Yusuf Bey V (Yusuf V) and Dawud Bey (Dawud), with guns in the car. The men in the Cadillac wore black to make it easier to escape detection. According to Broussard, Yusuf V had organized the mission, but he told Broussard that Bey “wanted it done.” Yusuf V gave Broussard the Mossberg shotgun to use in the shooting.

Bey and Siaw in the BMW met up with the Cadillac near where Cook's car was parked. Bey pulled his car alongside the Cadillac and, according to Siaw, told the men, “Y'all know what to do,” and “Wait until we drive off.” Bey and Siaw drove off and Siaw heard a lot of gunshots. Siaw and Bey then drove back to Cook's car and saw it riddled with bullet holes.

According to Broussard and Dawud, when Bey and Siaw drove off, the Bakery men got out of the Cadillac and fired multiple rounds from shotguns and assault rifles into Cook's car. Broussard admitted he participated in the shooting. There was a predetermined plan to put the firearms into the trunk after the shooting, which was done, and they then ran back to the Bakery, while Hearns drove the Cadillac away in the opposite direction. They wanted to get the weapons away from the scene separately from the shooters.

Police who responded to a 911 call found many...