SEPULVEDA OKS PLEA AGREEMENT

FRESNO -- The father of a boy killed by police nearly two years ago in a
drug raid at his Modesto home pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony marijuana
charge.

The plea means that Moises Sepulveda Sr. will not stand trial as scheduled
Sept. 17 in U.S. District Court in Fresno and is likely to avoid a prison
sentence.

Sepulveda, whose wife and two children accompanied him to the federal
courthouse, declined to com-ment after the proceeding.

Attorney Arturo Gonzalez, who also represented the family in two civil
lawsuits, said he advised Moises Sepulveda to accept the plea offer.

"I could have gone to trial, put on a show and won an acquittal," Gonzalez
said. "But if something went wrong, he's looking at 10 years. I advised him
to take the deal."

Earlier this year, the Sepulveda family settled wrongful death lawsuits
against the federal government and the city of Modesto for nearly $3
million in connection with the September 2000 shooting of Alberto Sepulveda.

He was 11 at the time of his death in the police raid on the family's
Highway Village home.

The predawn raid and several others that day rounded up 14 alleged members
of a methamphetamine ring. Moises Sepulveda Sr. was one of those arrested.

No drugs, drug paraphernalia or weapons were found at the Sepulveda home.
Prosecutors said they had a tape-recorded conversation between Sepulveda
and an alleged drug dealer, although Gonzalez questioned whether the
conversation had been translated accurately from Spanish to English.

The younger Sepulveda was killed when a shotgun -- held by officer David
Hawn of the Police Department's Special Weapons and Tactics team --
discharged as the boy lay face-down on his bedroom floor.

Three investigations labeled the shooting an accident and cleared Hawn of
criminal wrongdoing.

Sepulveda originally was charged with four felonies: conspiracy to
distribute methamphetamine, using a telephone to facilitate the manufacture
or distribution of methamphetamine, and two counts of meth distribution.

Those charges were dropped under the plea agreement announced Tuesday
afternoon in Judge Oliver Wanger's courtroom.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Duce Rice told the judge that Sepulveda would face
a single felony count of using a communications device -- a telephone -- to
sell or distribute marijuana.

That charge carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison and a fine
up to $250,000. But because Sepulveda has no criminal history, the most
time that he faces is up to six months and one year probation under federal
sentencing guidelines.

Wanger scheduled a Nov. 12 sentencing hearing. Gonzalez said he expects
Sepulveda to be sentenced to probation, with no prison time.

Gonzalez said the deal did not require Sepulveda to testify against three
remaining defendants: Clint Adam DeLeon, Juan Manuel Guerrero and Manuel
Ruelas.

Ruelas and Guerrero have signed plea agreements with the government,
although the government will not accept them unless DeLeon agrees to plead
as well. All three are due back in court Monday.

A court interpreter translated Sepulveda's Spanish into English in court as
he admitted that he used the telephone to arrange to distribute marijuana
between June 15 and July 15, 2000.

He gave up his right to a trial, to appeal his conviction, and to try to
have the charge set aside in the future.

At one point, Gonzalez had wanted the city of Modesto to lobby the federal
government to drop the drug charge as part of the settlement of the
family's lawsuit against the city, but city officials refused.

The city agreed in June to settle the lawsuit for $2.55 million. Earlier
this year, the federal government agreed to pay the Sepulveda family
$450,000 for the federal role in the shooting.