LOCAL : Trial Begins for N. Hollywood Man Accused in Officers’ Bomb Deaths

Opening statements began today in the case of a North Hollywood makeup artist accused in the deaths of two police bomb experts.

Donald Lee Morse, 39, a film and television makeup artist, faces life in prison if convicted in the Feb. 8, 1986, deaths of Detective Arleigh McCree, 46, and Officer Ronald Ball, 43, who were attempting to dismantle a bomb found in Morse’s garage.

McCree, then commander of the Los Angles Police Department’s bomb squad, and Ball dismantled one bomb that police found in Morse’s home during a search for a gun used to shoot an official of a union that represents makeup artists and hair stylists.

But the bomb experts were killed when they set off a second explosive they were trying to defuse. Morse, never charged in the shooting incident, denied knowing the explosives were at the home.

At a preliminary hearing in September, 1986, police testified that Morse contributed to the officers’ deaths by withholding information that could have helped the officers defuse the bombs.

Also at the preliminary hearing, an estranged relative testified that Morse threatened to have him blown up shortly before the discovery of the bombs.