Second suspect charged in New Year's Day murder in Plattekill

Mike Randall, Times Herald-Record
·2 min read

KINGSTON - A second man has been charged with murder in the New Year's Day shooting of a Plattekill man, state police reported Wednesday.

State police identified the suspect as Juwaugh Dawkins, 31, of Jacksonville, Florida. He is the brother of the first suspect charged in the case.

Dawkins was indicted on a charge of second-degree murder and three counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, both felonies, as a result of an investigation into the Jan. 1. shooting death of Daniel Spotards, 41, of Plattekill.

The body of Spotards, a father of two, was found by a sanitation worker at the end of his driveway on Jan. 2,

Dawkins was arrested in the state of Florida by members of the state police and brought back to New York to face the charges.

He is being held without bail in Ulster County Jail, pending an arraignment in Ulster County Court.

Dawkins is the brother of Junando Dawkins, 29, of Newburgh, who was previously charged with the murder of Spotards in March. Junando Dawkins, an Army sergeant, was taken into custody at Fort Bragg in North Carolina as he was about to deploy overseas.

Child abuse: Middletown man charged with predatory sexual assault against a child

New flights: Stewart Airport to offer nation's first nonstop service to the Faroe Islands

Cold case: Police make arrest in 20-year-old NY case after DNA links suspect to death of Megan McDonald

Junando Dawkins also was charged with one count of second-degree murder and three counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

State police have not said anything about a motive for the shooting, or what, if any, connection there was between Spotards and the Dawkins brothers.

The name of Juwaugh Dawkins' attorney was not immediately available.

Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record, Poughkeepsie Journal and The Journal News/lohud. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com or on Twitter @mikerandall845.

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Suspect charged in Plattekill man's New Year's Day murder