AUGUSTA — The New York man accused of killing two Augusta residents early Christmas morning was being held without bail after making his first court appearance Wednesday at the Capital Judicial Center.

David W. Marble Jr., 29, of Rochester has been charged with two counts of murder in the shooting deaths of Eric Williams, 35, and Bonnie Royer, 26, whose bodies were found by police responding to a 911 call that one of them made at 3:30 a.m. Friday. The couple were in an SUV on Sanford Road in Manchester, not far from where they lived on Easy Street in north Augusta.

The court sealed the affidavit supporting Marble’s arrest at the request of Deputy Attorney General Lisa Marchese, who cited “an active ongoing investigation.” Police had said Tuesday that the shootings were drug-related. The Maine State Police, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office have worked on the case.

Wearing an orange jail uniform and black-rimmed eyeglasses, Marble appeared in court with his wrists cuffed to a wide leather belt and his ankles shackled. He was not asked to enter a plea to the charges and spoke only to tell the judge that he understood his rights. About a dozen relatives and friends of Williams and Royer sat in the courtroom to watch the five-minute hearing.

Also Wednesday, police in Rochester said they have “actively been seeking to locate and arrest Marble since Oct. 30 in connection with a car/pedestrian crash there in July that left the pedestrian with serious injuries.” The victim in the crash is identified in the accident report as Currie Clanton, 50.

“(Marble) ran over my brother. Then he actually backed up to get him off the hood and ran over him a second time,” Jerry Bunton said in a phone interview Wednesday from Rochester.

Marble was arrested Tuesday afternoon by Augusta police after they stopped a motor vehicle near Memorial Circle in Augusta. He was a passenger.

Marchese told reporters after the hearing that Marble knew the victims in Maine, but she declined to offer additional details. Members of Williams’ and Royer’s families also said they didn’t want to speak to the media.

Attorneys Pamela Ames and David Geller represented Marble, who most recently was living in an apartment at 28 Sewall St., in Augusta, the address listed in the court complaint.

Ames said after the hearing that she had met briefly with Marble to review the complaint and his rights. The defense was provided with a copy of the affidavit containing the details that police say support Marble’s arrest in the killings.

Marble’s nickname on his Facebook page is “Dee Money.” A post from Tuesday, apparently by Marble, says, “This was a good Christmas after all everybody got to present this year and I was not in locked up.” Another of his posts, from Monday, says, “Forgive me GOD FOR I HAVE SIN. Spiritus Sancti.”

Within minutes of police announcing that they had arrested Marble, relatives of the dead couple began posting angry comments on his Facebook page.

In court Wednesday, Justice Michaela Murphy read aloud the complaint that says Marble intentionally or knowingly caused the deaths of Williams and Royer with the use of a firearm. She told him that convictions carry a maximum sentence of life without parole, with a mandatory minimum of 29 years in prison on each charge, and that the sentences could be consecutive because of the two victims involved. The minimum mandatory sentence for murder is 25 years, but the use of a firearm carries an additional four-year minimum.

Marchese asked that a Harnish bail hearing, which determines whether a person accused of a capital crime should be held without bail, be set for April 8 unless the defense waives it.

In the meantime, Marble is being held without bail at the Kennebec County jail.

This is the second time within a month that the courts have sealed an affidavit related to a murder charge in Kennebec County.

In late November, Damik Davis, 25, of Queens, New York, made an initial court appearance on a charge of murder after the death of Joseph G. Marceau, 31, of Augusta.

Marceau’s body was found Nov. 23 in a fourth-floor apartment at 75 Washington St. in Augusta. Police have not said how he was killed.

Family members of Williams and Royer have planned a memorial vigil for the couple from 7-9 p.m. Friday outside their Augusta home. People are being asked to meet and park near Summerhaven and Sanford roads and walk to the house.

Williams’ funeral is set for Saturday. Arrangements have yet to be made for Royer.

Marble has been behind bars before. He was arrested in June 2010 in Rochester and charged with beating and robbing a man. According to records from New York state, he was sentenced to prison on a conviction for robbery, third degree, and was released on probation in May 2011.

Marble also is accused of hitting Clanton while he was crossing the street on July 18 in Rochester, according to an amended Oct. 6 accident report filed with the New York state Bureau of Motor Vehicles. On that document, Marble’s driving status is listed as “unlicensed,” and it says he left the scene of the accident.

Investigator Francis Camp, with the Rochester Police Department, said Marble faces a felony charge of assault in the second degree, an extraditable offense, in the accident, and that police have been looking to arrest him since Oct. 30.

“We’re coordinating with the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office and your local authorities in the state of Maine to resolve this,” Camp said. “Obviously, though, the double murder is much more serious, not to diminish what he did to this victim at all.”

The accident report indicates four separate charges or violations filed against Marble in the collision, including aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, driving without a license, leaving the scene of a personal injury accident, and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.

Clanton sustained a number of bone fractures and a brain injury, spending weeks in intensive care while having several surgeries. Bunton said his brother is receiving therapy at home to learn to walk and communicate again.

Bunton said he wishes Marble had been behind bars in New York facing the charges resulting from the accident.

“When I saw that two people were killed and now their families have to go through the same thing we went through, I just wanted to scream,” Bunton said Wednesday. “The situation in your city is just so unnecessary.”

 

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