Two men were arraigned on murder charges in Suffolk Superior Court today in connection with unrelated homicides they allegedly committed in Boston during the summer of 2009, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

JORGE MERINO (D.O.B. 11/8/80) of East Boston was formally charged this morning with first-degree murder for the July 26, 2009, stabbing death of 33-year-old Jose Joaquin Ramirez, and AMOS “ACE” DON (D.O.B. 3/11/86) of Dorchester was arraigned a few hours later on the same charge for the shooting death of Erica Field, 29, in a Norwell Street truck storage lot on Aug. 25, 2009.

Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum of Conley’s Homicide Unit told Clerk Magistrate Gary Wilson that Merino and Ramirez shared a Marion Street apartment with three others, including Merino’s father. Polumbaum said the two men had had disputes prior to the fatal incident.

Just after 6:00 that morning, Polumbaum said, Boston Police responded to a 911 call to find Ramirez unconscious and bleeding heavily with a life-threatening injury to his throat. Lying on the kitchen floor near him was a bloody knife.

Polumbaum said Merino fled the scene and went to a relative’s house, where he discarded his cell phone and a set of bloody clothes. Investigators seeking to question him were unable to find him until 17 months later, when he was arrested in Virginia and was just days away from being deported to El Salvador.

In a December interview with Boston Police homicide detectives, Merino waived his Miranda rights and allegedly made statements that Ramirez had menaced him and another man with a knife, and that he had disarmed Ramirez and pushed the knife into his throat during a struggle. Those statements, Polumbaum said, were at odds with what Merino told another person: that when a verbal altercation became physical, he grabbed a knife, turned Ramirez around, and cut his throat from behind.

That latter statement, Polumbaum said, was more consistent with the victim’s injury as observed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Polumbaum also led the proceedings in Don’s arraignment early this afternoon. In addition to the murder charge stemming from Field’s death, Don was indicted on charges of armed assault with intent to murder and aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for allegedly shooting her boyfriend in the head during the same incident, as well as unlawful possession of the firearm he allegedly used to do it.

Noting that Don is now serving a 74-month sentence for a federal gun conviction and was present in court pursuant to an interstate agreement that requires him to be held without bail, Polumbaum did not recite the facts of the case. He did, however, file paperwork outlining the allegations against the defendant.

During the summer of 2009, Polumbaum wrote, Don would regularly travel from Boston to Lewiston, Maine, where he sold cocaine and heroin and enlisted Field’s boyfriend as a local dealer. In August, a large quantity of heroin was stolen from him, and he was allegedly told not to trust Field’s boyfriend. At around the same time, he undertook efforts to obtain firearms.

On Aug. 25, Don and both victims travelled from Lewiston to Boston, ostensibly to obtain more drugs. After spending time in Dorchester, Don allegedly directed the male victim, who was driving, to a truck storage lot near Norwell Street. There he allegedly shot the male victim once in the head and Field twice – once striking her hand and nose and once behind the left ear – killing her.

Physical evidence showed that the shooter sat in the back seat of the car, Polumbaum wrote. Don’s fingerprints were later recovered from multiple locations in and on the vehicle, the prosecutor said, and Don’s cell phone records showed a path of travel from Maine to Boston and from his neighborhood to the crime scene.

Clerk Magistrate Gary Wilson ordered Merino held without bail and scheduled his next court date for June 16. He is represented by attorney John Fitzpatrick.

Judge Judith Fabricant likewise ordered Don held without bail and ordered him to return to court with attorney Stephen Weymouth on May 17.