CHEYENNE — A decade after the brutal murder of two men at The Coin Shop, located at 510 W. Lincolnway in Wyoming’s capital city, a trial will begin on Monday.
Jury selection will begin Monday in the double first-degree murder trial of Douglas Mark Smith, the now-69-year-old who made the initial 911 call after George Manley, 76, and Dwight Brockman, 67, were gunned down on July 20, 2015.
According to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case, Smith called 911 and reported the shooting, telling police that he witnessed the robbery shortly after the men were killed.
Smith claimed that a mysterious man with a neck tattoo pointed a.45-caliber handgun at him and ordered him to leave, which he did. Then he dialed 911.
In addition to passing a polygraph test a few months after the crime, preliminary hearing testimony revealed that neither the neighborhood surrounding the shop nor Smith’s vehicle had been searched.
He was not initially considered a suspect, so he was not tested for gunshot residue.
Back On The Radar
Fast forward eight years to 2023, when investigators reopened the then-cold case and returned to California to interview Smith, who had relocated to Canada before moving to California.
Police became suspicious when Smith’s story took dramatic turns from what he had initially reported.
According to the affidavit, detectives discovered Smith owned a number of.45-caliber handguns throughout his life.
According to the affidavit, police analyzed nearby surveillance cameras that covered every direction surrounding the shop. There was no evidence that anyone other than Smith left the business at the time of the crime.
Smith had told 911 operators that he would try to photograph the suspect as they exited the building, but he had never seen anyone leave westbound from the store, which had only one exit. Witnesses who heard a muffled gunshot reported seeing no one leave the store or flee the scene.
Officers arrived shortly after and found no suspects leaving the scene.
Smith later selected a man with a large tattoo on his neck from a suspect lineup with 97% confidence, according to the affidavit.
Smith had never mentioned that the suspect had a tattoo on his neck.
He explained the inconsistency in a late-night email to former Detective John Pederson four days after the murder, speculating that the man was wearing makeup to conceal the tattoo while committing the crime.
Smith also drew other conclusions about the suspect, whom he referred to as “our guy,” claiming the man “has done this in the past,” according to the affidavit.
When asked about the email in 2023, Smith said he couldn’t remember sending it.
According to the affidavit, during an in-person interview on May 9, 2023, Smith stated that he was certain the suspect was someone else and denied looking at photo lineups.
Does not add up
During a phone interview with investigators on May 3, 2023, Smith stated that he was in the store for approximately 15-20 seconds. However, in his initial interview, Smith stated that it took two to three minutes from the time he entered the store until he called 911.
He also claimed to have called The Coin Shop ahead of time to confirm that it was open, but there is no record of the call.
Another inconsistency was that he claimed to have only been in the shop for 15-20 seconds before leaving and calling 911. However, he later stated that it had been two or three minutes between entering the store and calling 911.
When confronted with inconsistencies in his accounts of the crime then and now, Smith denied killing the men at The Coin Shop.
“If you guys want to haul me back and throw me in jail, that’s fine,” he told investigators.
If convicted, Smith could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
