Teen’s Death Reflects on Capizzi, Foe Says

SACRAMENTO —  A political foe of District Atty. Mike Capizzi blasted Orange County’s top law enforcement official Tuesday for failing to adopt a policy restricting the use of juvenile informants in drug investigations.

Dave Sterling, who is vying with Capizzi for the GOP state attorney general nomination in June’s primary election, said a lack of guidelines helped lead to the recent killing of a Yorba Linda teenager whose family claims he had served as a drug informant for police.

“Mike Capizzi very much dropped the ball on this,” Sterling said. “This is a case of bad judgment that amounts to reckless disregard for the life and safety of a 17-year-old boy.”

Capizzi, however, said his foe is playing politics and overestimating the power a district attorney can wield over individual police departments, which set their own policies for use of informants. He also said there was no connection between the death of Chad Macdonald Jr. and the work the teen had allegedly done as a drug informant for the Brea Police Department.

“It’s unfortunate that [Sterling] would try to exploit for political purposes a tragic event without any awareness of the facts,” Capizzi said. “Shooting blind is not a characteristic that’s consistent with one who seeks to be the top law enforcement officer in the state.”

An attorney for MacDonald’s family has charged that the youth was forced to become an informant after police arrested him in January on a drug possession charge. On March 3, the Yorba Linda teen’s body was found in an alley in South Los Angeles. His girlfriend was raped, shot and left for dead in the Angeles National Forest; she survived. Three suspects have been identified.

Brea police have repeatedly refused to discuss their involvement with MacDonald, citing legal restrictions that bar them from talking about cases involving juveniles.

A hearing is set for today in Orange County juvenile court to decide whether details of the case will be released at the request of law enforcement officials and newspapers.

Sterling said Capizzi could have used his authority as district attorney to ensure that Orange County law enforcement agencies used juvenile informants rarely and only with great care.

“I’m concerned about a youth being used this way,” Sterling said. “Michael Capizzi is responsible for not having a policy in effect. He was either asleep at the wheel or didn’t pay attention to this.”

But Capizzi said Sterling is confused about the relationship between a district attorney’s office and police.

“We cannot set policy for police departments,” he said. “We tell them what the law is. And the law permits them to use juvenile informants if they choose to.”

He said there are circumstances where juvenile informants occasionally prove necessary. Finding the dividing line “is certainly a laudable objective, but I think when all the facts are known in this case, people will agree law enforcement didn’t go over the line.”

Capizzi also questioned whether Sterling ever proposed such a policy for juveniles during the seven years he served as assistant state attorney general. “Did he have a policy? And if not, why not?” Capizzi questioned. “When he tries to paint with that brush, he paints himself.”