Double homicide suspects in court; Probation issue affects one man.

Byline: Brian Lee 

DUDLEY - Cases against the two defendants in last month's double homicide were continued yesterday until status review hearings, at which time a judge will also consider charges of probation violations against one of them.

Marc S. LeTang, of Worcester, and Christian Muller, of Webster, are being held without bail on two counts each of murder and a count each of armed assault with intent to commit murder. A hearing for Mr. LeTang, 19, is next scheduled in Dudley District Court Sept. 13. Mr. Muller, 26, is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 5 on these charges and on alleged violations in previous cases.

Aaron Bash, 31, and Denise J. (Woodcock) Johnston, 36, of 25 West Main St., third floor, Dudley, died from gunshot wounds to the head. The shootings were at their apartment sometime before 12:42 a.m. July 9, authorities are alleging.

Another unidentified woman who had dated Mr. Muller survived a gunshot wound to the head, according to court records.

Yesterday, Judge Neil G. Snider granted lawyer John H. LaChance's motion for the state to pay up to $5,000 to obtain a psychiatric evaluation of Mr. Muller, who was committed to Bridgewater State Hospital, the court file stated. The judge also ordered the state to pay up to $1,000 for private investigative services.

At the Oct. 5 hearing, a judge will also consider Mr. Muller's other cases out of Webster and Oxford, for which he is serving four concurrent one-year suspended jail sentences and supervised probation. He was sentenced April 10 in four cases.

Mr. Muller was found guilty of violating an abuse prevention order, while a second count of the same charge and two counts of assault and battery were dismissed without prejudice, meaning those charges could be re-filed. His estranged wife, Dawn Muller, had opted not to testify and invoked marital privilege, court records indicate.

In another Webster case, Mr. Muller was found guilty of larceny greater than $250, while a count of larceny under $250 was dismissed upon restitution payments of $380 and $150 to two victims. In that case, Mr. Muller had encountered two men at the Pawn Broker on Oct. 18 and told them he could sell their items - a bag of video games and a portable DVD player - for more than what they would get at the shop.

The men followed him to a Thompson Road address and gave Mr. Muller the items. Mr. Muller then drove off on a motorcycle, but one of the men had written down his license number, the Webster police report stated.

Mr. Muller was also guilty of possession of crack cocaine in Oxford, while charges of assault and battery and witness intimidation were dismissed at the request of the prosecutor, defendant and Mrs. Muller, the victim.

The Oxford case stemmed from an incident that occurred Aug. 20 of last year. He was accused of yelling obscenities and banging on windows at 121 Orchard Hill Drive. In addition to the suspended jail sentence, Judge Snider ordered Mr. Muller to remain drug- and alcohol-free with testing and to enter a batterer's intervention program.

He was also guilty on April 10 of resisting arrest in Webster. Police said that on Aug. 18 they were forced to use pepper spray in trying to issue a civil warrant to Mr. Muller on North Main Street. After exiting a car, Mr. Muller resisted two officers, ran up the street and disappeared from view, police stated in their request for a clerk's magistrate's hearing.

NOTE: 2007 INCIDENT