Makeup Man Guilty in Pipe Bomb Deaths : Device Killed Two Police Officers in N. Hollywood

After only one day of deliberations, a jury found a North Hollywood makeup artist guilty today in the deaths of two Los Angeles police officers who were killed while trying to dismantle a pipe bomb at his home.

Donald Morse, 39, was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of possessing explosives. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole.

Killed in the explosion Feb. 8, 1986, were Detective Arleigh McCree, 46, commander of the Los Angeles Police Department’s bomb squad, and Officer Ronald Ball, 43.

Police testified that they went to Morse’s home in North Hollywood to search for a pistol that had been used four days earlier to shoot an official of the Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Union Local 706, of which Morse was a member. The gun was not found, and Morse was not charged in the shooting.

One Bomb Dismantled

While searching the defendant’s garage, officers found two pipe bombs and summoned McCree and Ball. The two dismantled one bomb but were killed while trying to defuse the second.

Defense attorney Barnard J. Rosen argued that the circumstantial evidence that linked Morse to the bombs was insufficient to support a guilty verdict.

Rosen had hoped to present evidence that showed the officers’ failure to take safety precautions contributed to their deaths, but that defense was ruled out by San Fernando Superior Court Judge John H. Major.

Morse was also convicted of special circumstance allegations that would have qualified him for the death penalty, but the district attorney’s office previously decided not to seek a death sentence against him.

Major ordered Morse to return to court May 3 for sentencing.