Woodbridge Double Homicide Appeal to Get Supreme Court Review

The New Jersey Supreme Court has agreed to review an appeal in the case of Michael Ross II, who was found guilty in 2008 of fatally shooting two men in Woodbridge, Middlesex County Acting Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey said Friday.

In December 2012, Middlesex County Acting Assistant Prosecutor Nancy Hullet filed a petition to reverse the murder convictions of Ross after the panel reported it was unable to reach a verdict until one of the ill jurors was replaced with an alternate, the prosecutor’s office said. 

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court stated the trial judge made a mistake when substituting the alternate for an ill juror after the jury had already stated they could not reach a consensus, Carey said.

Once the alternate juror joined the panel, they were able to reach a consensus that ultimately led to the sentencing of Ross to two life prison terms with no chance of parole for 127 years.

Ross was found guilty on April 29, 2008 of murdering Aleksy Bautin, 26, of Avenel and Sergey Barashov, 21, of Edison, by shooting them as they sat in a car in the parking lot of the Forest View apartments in Woodbridge.

In the petition from the Prosecutor’s Office to the Supreme Court, the county asked for consideration that one juror could be substituted for a valid excuse, but the trial court properly instructed the new panel to start its deliberations from the beginning.

The Supreme Court, according to Carey, has set no hearing date for the review of the case.