Pretrial hearing of alleged murder suspect postponed
Defense attorney gets time to analyze new evidence in shooting deaths
BY KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer

NEW BRUNSWICK — The pre-trial hearing of an Avenel man accused of shooting two Russian men to death in 2003 has been moved to next month due to additional discovery presented to the defense attorney.

Michael E. Ross II, 23, formerly of Chestnut Avenue, was indicted by a Middlesex County grand jury on Oct. 31 on two counts of first-degree murder, one second-degree count of possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, one third-degree count of unlawful possession of a weapon, and one count of hindering his own apprehension.

At a pre-trial hearing on Dec. 8 before state Superior Court Judge Joseph L. Rea, Ross’ attorney, Anthony Cariddi, received additional discovery of video tapes and laboratory results a half hour before the pre-trial hearing. He asked that the date be moved to next month, which would give him reasonable time to analyze the discovery.

Judge Rea agreed and rescheduled the pre-trial hearing to 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 26, 2007.

“Ross will either enter into a plea deal or decide to go on trial at the pre-trial hearing,” said Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Julie Davidson.

Davidson said Ross’ father, sister and friend were also charged with witness tampering after Ross was charged with the two murders.

Michael E. Ross Sr., 61, and Rasheena Ross, 22, of Chestnut Avenue in Avenel, were charged with third-degree charges of witness tampering and face between three to five years of probation, she said.

Nicholas Simeon, 19, of Avenel, was charged with second-degree charges of witness tampering and faces between five to 10 years in jail, Davidson said.

“The allegations are Michael’s father and sister confronted a witness that deals with this case,” she said. “Nicholas threatened to harm the same witness dealing with the case.”

Ross, known as “Sixty,” was arrested and charged on Sept. 11 at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Wrightstown, in connection with the deaths of Aleksy Bautin, 26, Forest View Drive, Avenel, and Sergey Barbashov, 21, Edison, authorities from the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office said.

He was already serving an 18-month prison sentence since March 29 for aggravated assault and theft charges, according to state Department of Corrections authorities.

Ross pleaded not guilty to the two counts of murder and two counts of weapons charges at his arraignment Oct. 5. Ross’ attorney, Anthony Cariddi entered the pleas. He is being held on $1.55 million bail with no 10 percent option.

Both men were found shot to death in the front seat of a red 1999 Volkswagen parked near the Forest View apartments. Each man had been shot several times, according to authorities.

The arrest came after witnesses’ statements and a “tireless investigation” by Detective Christopher Lyons of the Woodbridge Police Department and Investigator Mark Clements of the Prosecutor’s Office, authorities have said.

Police were dispatched to Yardley Avenue inside the apartment complex at 10:58 p.m. on Oct. 30, 2003, after a resident called police about gunshots in the area, according to police reports.

Bautin, a computer programmer for TheaterMania in New York City, was pronounced dead at the scene only a few hundred feet from his parents’ third-floor apartment.

Barbashov died several hours later on Oct. 31, 2003, at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey [UMDNJ] in Newark. He was employed by Olger Motors in Bridgeton.

Ross faces up to 30 years to life in prison if convicted of the murder charges, authorities said.