Colorado Man Sentenced For Murder-For-Hire Shooting In Poughkeepsie

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — A Colorado man who was hired to kill someone but mistakenly shot at a 17-year-old in a Poughkeepsie park was sentenced Monday to time behind bars.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Justtin Kenyotta Haywood, 40, of Aurora, Colorado, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for his participation in a murder-for-hire scheme and related shooting in Poughkeepsie in 2020.

Haywood was also sentenced to three years of supervised release.

Williams said Haywood had been offered $5,000 to kill someone, then wrongly identified, pursued and shot at a 17-year-old boy who was playing basketball in a Poughkeepsie park with two friends.

He had previously pleaded guilty to murder for hire and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.

“Justtin Haywood’s sentence shows that senseless acts of violence will be met with severe consequences,” Williams said. “Haywood agreed to murder another individual and then shot at an innocent 17-year-old boy.”

According to prosecutors, in late December 2019 and early January 2020, Haywood traveled from Colorado to North Carolina and then to Poughkeepsie and met with a co-conspirator who offered him $5,000 to kill another man.

Haywood agreed to do so, and on Jan. 15, 2020, wrongly believing to have found his intended target, approached three teenagers playing basketball in King Street Park in Poughkeepsie.

He attempted to shoot one of them, ultimately chasing them in his car as they fled on foot and firing multiple shots from inside his car. Fortunately, authorities said, no one was hit.