Dover hate crime suspects in court, one threatens to kill

POUGHKEEPSIE — The four Dover men charged with the class B felony of Robbery in the 1st degree as a hate crime for attacking a group of men in December of last year just made the job of their attorneys even more difficult. That’s because one of the defendants reportedly threatened the life of someone watching from the gallery when all four men appeared in Dutchess County Court in Poughkeepsie on Monday, March 7.   

Back on Dec. 6, 2021, the New York State Police (NYSP) from the Dover Plains Troop K barracks responded to a 911 call of a possible robbery in the town of Dover.

The caller said that “a group of men attacked them, and one attacker [was] armed with a handgun [and] fired a single shot,” according to the NYSP report.

When the Troopers arrived at the home on Market Street at roughly 11:53 p.m., none of the victims appeared to be seriously injured, and the attackers had fled on foot. The victims reported jewelry had been stolen.

An intensive investigation was initiated by the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), which determined the accused perpetrators were from Dover: 40-year-old Joshua A. Benson; 23-year-old Joshua A. Benson Jr.; 34-year-old Nicholas L. Gast; and 19-year-old Darius L. Robinson.

The BCI concluded that the four men targeted the victims based on their race. All four were arrested for Robbery in the 1st degree as a hate crime, a class B felony; they were arraigned before the town of Dover Court. They were then remanded to the Dutchess County Jail pending future court proceedings.

Robinson and Benson Jr. were remanded in lieu of $50,000 cash bail, $100,000 secure bond or $200,000 partially secure bond. Gast and Benson were remanded without bail.

Last week they appeared in the Dutchess County Courthouse, to be arraigned on a 25-count grand jury indictment; the hate crime charge was the most serious count.

According to reports from those inside the courtroom, after Judge McLoughlin remanded Benson to jail without bail, he made a violent outburst while still shackled.

The suspect was said to have turned to a person in the gallery and threatened them, saying “I am going to kill you when I get out.”

His attorney, Kelley Enderley, had this to say when The Millerton News called her for a comment:

“Court is a stressful place and sometimes anger and stress can get the best of people.”

Assistant DA David Kunca did not get back to this newspaper before press time to make a comment on the case.

All four defendants have had run ins with the law prior to this case; some have extensive criminal histories, according to the NYSP.