LAWYER: TEEN WAS TRYING FOR LAST DEAL

Confidentiality of juvenile proceedings prohibits comment from law
enforcement officials.

A prosecutor allegedly told Chad Allen MacDonald at a court hearing last
month that he would dismiss narcotics possession charges if the youth
completed another drug buy as a Brea police informant, a family lawyer said
Friday.

The offer, which the lawyer said is outlined in police reports released to
MacDonald's family,is the first indication the Orange County District
Attorney's Office approved of the youth's informant work before he was
slain this month.

Attorney Lloyd Charton said he wouldn't publicly release the police file
because the reports could identify people who have cooperated with police
and others in the drug business. "These documents have things in it that
could get people hurt and I'm not doing it," the attorney said.

Assistant District Attorney John Conley said he could not comment on his
office's involvement because of state laws that require juvenile court
proceedings to remain confidential.

"The judge has put us in a situation where one side can talk and the other
can't and I'm very frustrated," Conley said. "Hopefully, early next week
we'll see if the judge will allow us to talk as well.

Charton's news conference was the latest salvo in an increasingly bitter
debate between MacDonald's family and Brea police on whether the
17-year-old's work as an informant led to his death. Police deny MacDonald
was working for them on the day he was killed.

Charton said that the youth agreed to work for police after he was arrested
Jan. 6 while driving in Yorba Linda with half an ounce of methamphetamine.

MacDonald disappeared March 1 after driving with his girlfriend to a
reputed drug house in Norwalk. The youth's tortured and strangled body was
found March 3 in a south Las Angeles alley.

Charton said the report indicated the accused Hispanic killers made racial
slurs while beating MacDonald and calling him "a (expletive) narc."

"Yeah, they said because he was a 'white guy,' but that's a red herring.
Chad was killed because he was a snitch," Charton said.

Brea police officials said Charton failed to release information that
showed other potential motives for MacDonald's death.

Brea police had petitioned presiding Juvenile Court Judge Ronald Owen for
permission to publicly release the police investigative file. But Owen,
instead, gave the documents to MacDonald's mother, as well as permission to
release what she wished.

Brea Police Chief William Lentini said the decision left him unable to
respond to Charton's allegations.

The judge "said he thought the mother had a surviving interest in the
information about Chad." Lentini said. "Clearly (Charton) will pick out the
information that is beneficial to his case."

Charton has not disputed that MacDonald was a drug user and methamphetamine
dealer in Yorba Linda. He has criticized police for not putting the teen
into the juvenile system, where he likely would been sentenced to a
six-month rehabilitation program instead of re-introducing him to the drug
world.

On Feb. 19, when MacDonald appeared in court, Charton said the police
report shows that "Chad was told by the DA if you make another buy for the
detectives I will dump al the charges."

That night, at about 7:25 p.m., Brea police arrested him a second time for
possession of two grams of methamphetamine. MacDonald told the officers
that he was working as an informant for a Brea detective. The officers
released MacDonald to his mother and said the detective would contact him,
Charton said.

"Chad never heard from that officer again. There were no charges. There was
nothing ever done," Charton said.