Douglas Mark Smith, 68, continues to profess his innocence after being accused of killing two people during a daytime robbery of a downtown Cheyenne coin shop in 2015.
Smith pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder during his arraignment hearing Monday in Laramie County District Court.
Smith is accused of shooting and killing the then-owner of The Coin Shop, Dwight Brockman, 67, and his friend George Manley, 76, in during that year’s Frontier Days. The brazen nature of the murder left many in Cheyenne shocked.
Smith had long been a witness in the case, but it wasn’t until authorities interviewed him again in 2023 that serious inconsistencies in his recount of the event started to emerge, as well as new evidence discovered against him. He was arrested June 25 in California.
Authorities are accusing him of leading investigators in the wrong direction immediately after the murder and the nine years that followed.
During a court hearing earlier this month, a Cheyenne police detective that neither Smith nor the area around the Coin Shop was searched for a gun after the murder.
Still No Bond
Since his arrest, Smith, a citizen of Canada, remains at the Laramie County Detention Center with no bond, a status typically reserved for only the most serious of charges and defendants who are seen as extreme flight risks.
The prosecution has 45 days to confirm whether it will seek the death penalty in the case, although Laramie County District Attorney Sylvia Hackle already told Cowboy State Daily she doesn’t not expect to do so.
A Dec. 3 trial date has been set for Smith’s case, presided over by Judge Steven Sharpe.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
