A Cody woman accused of soliciting a man she thought was a hitman to kill her daughter’s boyfriend in late 2023 plans to tell a jury that the “hitman” — an undercover law enforcement agent — entrapped her.
Wendy Dawn Coe, 56, faces one count of felony solicitation to commit murder in the first degree.
She’s scheduled for an Aug. 4 jury trial in Park County District Court.
Her defense attorney Sam Krone on Thursday put the state of Wyoming “on notice” that he and Coe plan to use the legal concept of entrapment as a defense at that trial.
“The evidence in this case demonstrates that the Defendant was entrapped by law enforcement, as the government induced the commission of the alleged crime and the defendant lacked predisposition to engage in the criminal conduct,” wrote Krone.
Under Wyoming law, the attorney continued, a person establishes entrapment by showing the government induced the crime and that she lacked the predisposition to commit that crime.
December Meeting
Court documents say Coe started soliciting people in late 2023 to find someone willing to murder her daughter’s boyfriend.
A Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agent decided to go undercover and pretend to take her up on the offer, says an evidentiary affidavit.
Coe negotiated with the agent on Dec. 20, 2023, outside her workplace, saying things like, “I just want him gone … for the way he treats my daughter,” the document alleges.
“Every time he gets money, he gets her back on drugs and he treats her like crap,” Coe said, according to the affidavit. “I mean, like, literally, he’s fully in control of her.”
Coe told the agent where the man worked and confirmed that it would not be “out of the ordinary” for him to die in circumstances that look like an overdose, the affidavit says.
Get Us Out Of Here
Krone on Wednesday asked the court to let Coe switch venues so she can have her trial in a different county. The attorney claimed news coverage of the alleged crime has been widespread and “prejudicial,” saying both major Park County news outlets have been covering the case.
As of Friday, no judicial ruling on that request had surfaced in the public case file.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
