3 Will Stand Trial in Informant’s Slaying

Three people must stand trial for the murder of a Yorba Linda teenager who had been working for police as a drug informant.

A Los Angeles Municipal Court judge Wednesday ordered Michael Lucas Martinez, 21, Florence Noriega, 29, and Jose Alfredo Ibarra, 19, all of Norwalk, to appear for arraignment Sept. 23.

Chad MacDonald, 17, had agreed to work as an informant after being arrested on suspicion of possession of methamphetamine in January. He was found tortured and strangled in a South Los Angeles alley March 3, the same day his 17-year-old girlfriend was found in the Angeles National Forest. She had been raped and shot in the jaw.

The girlfriend, whose name has not been made public because she is a minor, testified at the preliminary hearing that their attackers had searched her and MacDonald for body wires. She also testified that the defendants said they wanted to teach MacDonald a lesson, according to court transcripts.

The prosecution is expected to decide within a month whether to seek the death penalty, said Forrest Latiner, Ibarra’s attorney.

Latiner said the defendants don’t deny killing MacDonald but that they didn’t mean to do it. They wanted to teach him a lesson, Latiner said, because he was a “snitch.”

“We all agree that this was a homicide that occurred . . . to teach this guy that you don’t go dropping names or pull a dime on somebody,” Latiner said. “Our view is that MacDonald was not killed as the result of commission of robbery, kidnap or rape. Basically, there was a feeling, a sense that he was a snitch or working for the police. I don’t think anyone really meant to kill.”

In response to MacDonald’s murder, the Assembly last month voted 70-2 in favor of a measure by Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) that would restrict the use of juveniles as police informants. The measure is expected to be signed by Gov. Pete Wilson.

MacDonald’s mother recently filed a $10-million wrongful-death lawsuit against the cities of Brea and Yorba Linda as well as Brea police, who serve both cities.

Lloyd Charton, an attorney for the MacDonald family, had long contended that MacDonald’s role as a police informant led to his death.

“Everybody knows what happened here,” Charton said Wednesday.

Charton said the family hopes for a quick trial.

“Obviously the family feels very strongly that these monsters should stand trial and face the harshest of all punishments,” Charton said. “If it’s ever been warranted for a case that involved sex, torture and revenge, this is that case. This is the most callous set of events.”