WOODWARD — A Woodward man has been bound over for trial in a second-degree murder case.

A judge ruled David Lee Yelloweagle, 20, should be held to answer to a felony count of second-degree murder in the September 2010 death of 20-year-old Jon Michael Watkins.

He is set to be arraigned in the case at 10 a.m. Feb. 29. Yelloweagle appeared in court Friday morning for a preliminary hearing in the case.

Yelloweagle is accused of kicking and punching Watkins in the head on Sept. 23, 2010, causing fatal brain injuries.

One man, Dillan Shane Hager, 22, pleaded guilty Jan. 20 and received a 35-year sentence, of which 15 was suspended. A preliminary hearing for a third suspect, Jeffery Shawn Spencer, 19, is scheduled for March 16.

Two witnesses were called to the stand in Yelloweagle’s hearing.

Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Agent Curt Terry testified first and described the crime scene he encountered as he assisted in investigating the homicide case.

The second witness was Spencer, who described the events of the day that ultimately led to Watkins’ death.

Terry said he was contacted by Woodward County Sheriff Gary Stanley to help investigate the case.

The crime scene was seven miles south of Woodward.

Watkins’ body was sent to the Oklahoma Medical Office for autopsy, Terry said, noting the results of the autopsy showed cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head.

Peter Scimeca, Yelloweagle’s attorney, asked Terry who authorities determined were the suspects in Watkins’ death.

“We determined the suspects to be Dillan Hager, Shawn Spencer and David Yelloweagle,” Terry said.

He said he learned about the suspects, whom he identified as Spencer and Ashley Carriger, “after interviewing multiple witnesses.”

During his investigation, Terry said he determined “Dillan Hager, Shawn Spencer and David Yelloweagle delivered kicks and punches to Jon Watkins.”

When Spencer took the stand, he testified Watkins had been hitting Hager prior to his death.

But before testifying about the altercation, Spencer said he, Watkins and Hager had been hanging out and drinking for much of the day on Sept. 22, 2010. He said they began by playing video games and drinking beer in the early afternoon, then purchased some liquor at about 4:30 p.m., when they went out fishing, and continued to drink as they attended a party at a friend’s house from 8 p.m. Sept. 22 to 2 a.m. Sept. 23, 2010.

Spencer testified Yelloweagle joined them during the party, and when their friend broke up the party at 2 a.m., the four men and two female friends left to continue the party.

“We still had a bottle of liquor left, so we went dirt roading,” he said.

Spencer said they drove to the country and “stopped about a half mile from Dillan’s mom’s house on a dirt road and we drank a bit.”

Spencer said the 4 men ended up in the back of the truck.

“In a conversation between Dillan and Jon, they were talking about who could knock the other out with one punch,” Spencer said.

The two men then decided they would throw punches to see, he said.

“Dillan hit Jon first and Jon fell and was knocked out for a bit,” Spencer said.

After getting back up, Spencer said Watkins started to swing at Hager.

Then Hager got mad and started hitting Watkins back and the two men “got into a scuffle in the back of the truck,” he said.

Spencer said he decided to intervene, but instead kicked Watkins.

“I was drunk and stupid, and I made my way into the fight and took the opportunity to kick Jon,” he said.

He testified Yelloweagle “got a couple punches in” on Watkins, too.

“I can’t speak for everyone, but I was trying to defend a friend (Hager),” Spencer said.

He said the fight lasted about five minutes.

“We stopped ’cause we knew we were fighting for no damn reason. We were drunk and stupid,” Spencer said.

After the fight concluded, they apologized to each other and said the fight was a big misunderstanding and there would be no hard feelings, Spencer said.

He said about a hour after the fight was over, everyone decided to go “dirt roading” again.

The others got in the front of the truck, while Watkins’ stayed in the bed, Spencer said.

He said Hager began driving Watkins’ truck when they “went dirt roading for a good 20 to 30 minutes,” during which time he said Hager drove through ditches and hit a fence.

They didn’t stop until the truck broke down.

Spencer said no one asked or turned around to check on Watkins in the back as they were dirt roading.

When everyone got out of the disabled pickup, Spencer said he smelled something which he described as blood.

“I saw Jon on his side with his arm above his head,” he said.

Spencer said he put Watkins’ “cold as ice” head on his lap.

“I tried CPR (on Watkins) ...,” Spencer said. “We decided he was dead or the next thing to dead.”

However, Spencer said they didn’t call the police because some of the men had warrants out for their arrest.

Later in the morning, Spencer said a friend took him to the Woodward County Sheriff’s Office to turn himself in.



Matthews writes for the Woodward News.