OAKLAND, Calif. -- Allegations that Your Black Muslim Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV ordered that Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey be murdered two years ago dominated Bey's hearing Tuesday on unrelated charges that he and several associates kidnapped and tortured two women.

Before Bey's second preliminary hearing in the kidnapping and torture case even began, his lawyer, Anne Beles asked that the media and public be excluded, saying of Bey, 23, that, "I don't think I have seen a man who has been subjected to more pretrial publicity than he has in this case and the Chauncey Bailey murder."

Beles was referring to news reports quoting LeRue Grim, the attorney for former bakery handyman Devaughndre Broussard, as saying that Broussard told an Alameda County grand jury last week that Bey ordered him to kill Bailey, 57, as he walked to his job as editor of the Oakland Post on Aug. 2, 2007.

According to Grim, Broussard, 21, has admitted that he shot and killed Bailey but claims that Bey ordered him to do so because Bey was upset about an article Bailey was going to write about the bakery's financial problems.

Grim said Broussard also told the grand jury that Bey ordered two other men to be killed in July 2007.

According to Grim, the grand jury is considering indicting Bey in connection with those three homicides.

Beles said, "Over the last three or four months, a week hasn't gone by without allegations about Mr. Bey, mostly in connection with Chauncey Bailey's homicide."

Beles told Alameda County Superior Court Judge Joseph Hurley that she wants him to "stem the tide of tainting the potential pool of jurors in this case."

But Hurley rejected Beles' request, agreeing with prosecutor Scott Patton's statement that "nothing in this hearing will be inflammatory" because reports of Bey's alleged involvement in Bailey's death have already been highly publicized.

Referring to the Bailey case, Patton said, "This murder and the defendant's (Bey's) alleged involvement have been widely reported the last two weeks."

Patton said Beles is "concerned about comments about the murder of Mr. Bailey" that Bey, his half-brother Joshua Bey and Tamon Halfin made when they were secretly tape-recorded in a police interview room four days after Bailey was killed.

Patton placed a videotape of those comments into evidence in the kidnapping and torture case because the three men also discussed that case.

Beles said only portions of that videotape should be allowed in the kidnapping and torture case because she believes that the comments about Bailey's death are irrelevant.

But Patton said he believes that most of the videotape is relevant because it shows that Yusuf Bey IV has a pattern of "giving advice on how to commit crimes and cover them up."

The prosecution's theory is that Bey "was the shot-caller" in the kidnapping and torture case, Patton said.

He said he believes that Bey wanted to kidnap the two women the night of May 17, 2007, because they "had money or knew a drug dealer who had money."

Hurley said he agrees with Patton that Bey "appears to give orders in other crimes."

Last Aug. 8, at the end of a preliminary hearing that was held intermittently over a span of nearly seven months, a judge ruled that there was sufficient evidence to have Bey and three other defendants stand trial on charges that they kidnapped and tortured the two women.

But on April 10 another judge dismissed the case for technical legal reasons, ruling that the defendants hadn't waived their right to have the preliminary hearing conducted on consecutive days.

The Alameda County District Attorney's office re-filed charges three days later.

Last week, the other three defendants in the case, Halfin, 22, Richard Lewis, 24, and Yusuf Bey V, 22, who's another half-brother, waived their right to have a second preliminary hearing and agreed to have their cases set for trial in several months.

But Yusuf Bey IV insisted on having a second preliminary hearing.

Joshua Bey, 20, was also charged in the case but on Jan. 29, 2008, he pleaded guilty to a single count of kidnapping and is slated to receive a three-year prison term in return for testifying against the other men.

Although multiple witnesses, including the two alleged victims, Joshua Bey and various police officers, testified at the first hearing, Patton is seeking to expedite the second preliminary hearing by only calling one witness, Oakland police officer Jesse Grant, who testified today.

But Beles, who didn't represent Yusuf Bey IV at the first preliminary hearing, is asking that she be allowed to call Joshua Bey back to the witness stand on Wednesday because she thinks his testimony could support her theory that Yusuf IV didn't have the specific intent to have the two women kidnapped and tortured.

However, Patton said he believes that a transcript of Joshua Bey's testimony in the first hearing should be sufficient for the second hearing.

Hurley said he doesn't think he will order Joshua Bey to testify, telling Beles that he thinks she's engaged in "a classic case of fishing" for exculpatory evidence and "you want a free deposition."

Hurley will hold a hearing on the issue at 9 a.m. Wednesday and has ordered Joshua Bey and his attorney to be present.

Beles said she expects the preliminary hearing to conclude on Wednesday, even if Joshua Bey testifies.