Local News in Brief : Bail Denied for Suspect in 2 Bombing Deaths

A San Fernando Superior Court judge Tuesday denied a request to set bail for a North Hollywood man accused of murder in the February bombing deaths of two police demolition experts.

Donald Lee Morse, 37, has been held without bail since Los Angeles Police Department detectives Arleigh McCree, 46, and Ron Ball, 43, were killed Feb. 8 while trying to dismantle a pipe bomb in Morse’s garage.

Morse’s attorneys, Pierpont M. Laidley and Halvor T. Miller Jr., asked Judge John H. Major to set Morse’s bail at $10,000, Deputy Dist. Atty. Sterling E. Norris said.

Norris opposed the bail request, arguing that Morse might flee and that his release could pose a danger to society.

Prosecutors believe the sophisticated bomb was built by an experienced bomb-maker, Norris said. He said Morse has traveled to Africa and had telephoned the Center for Cuban Studies in New York a few days before the bombing. The center is frequented by communists, and Morse’s travels and communication with the center raise questions about his connections, Norris said.

Naomi Friedman, administrator of the center, said it is licensed by the State Department to import educational books, magazines, films and videotapes from Cuba. Visitors to the center include researchers and professors, Friedman said. “It’s certainly not a hangout for communists,” she said.

Morse could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted. His trial is scheduled to begin April 6.