MUELLER Two local people facing murder charges in connection with two recent incidents will have to stay at home and wear electronic monitoring devices if they post bond for their release from the Cherokee County Detention Center, a Circuit Court judge ruled Friday.

Judge Derham Cole last week presided over bond hearings for Patricia Ann Sprouse, 50, who is charged with murder in connection with the Nov. 1 stabbing death of her boyfriend, Michael Carpenter, 48; and also for Johnny Ray Mueller, who is charged with murder for the Oct. 21 shooting death of his brother-in-law, Rickey Allen Dixon Sr., 52.

Judge Cole did not issue immediate rulings following the bond hearings but on Friday handed down written orders granting bond in both cases.

Sprouse can be freed from jail pending trial if she posts $25,000 bond.

Mueller’s bond, meanwhile, was set at $50,000.

According to the Cherokee County Detention Center on Sunday, Mueller had been released on bond while Sprouse remained jailed.

SPROUSE In both cases, the judge added the special conditions that Sprouse and Mueller would be subject to home detention with monitoring by global positioning satellite devices.

During bond hearings last week, a defense attorney for Mueller claimed Mueller was trying to defend his sister from abuse when Dixon was shot twice in the bedroom of the East Lime Street, Blacksburg, home that Mueller shared with his sister and brother-in-law. Mueller called emergency responders after the shooting and stayed on the scene.

A defense attorney for Sprouse contended that Carpenter and Sprouse had been engaged in a verbal argument that turned violent. The attorney claimed Carpenter went to the kitchen of the Marietta Road home he shared with Sprouse to grab a “utensil” and that she did so as well.

Unbeknownst to Sprouse, the defense attorney said, Carpenter grabbed a spoon while she grabbed a knife.

Police said they found Sprouse applying pressure to a wound on Carpenter’s chest when they arrived at the scene. He died from a stab wound to the heart.