Wendy Coe pleaded no contest to a reduced felony after prosecutors said an undercover agent recorded discussions about killing her daughter’s boyfriend.

CODY, Wyo. — A Wyoming woman who had faced a solicitation-of-first-degree-murder charge over an alleged plan to have her daughter’s boyfriend killed has accepted a plea that sharply changes the stakes of a case that began with an undercover operation in December 2023. Wendy Coe, 57, pleaded no contest in Park County District Court to attempted aggravated assault and battery, a reduced felony charge.

The agreement moves Coe away from the original murder-solicitation charge, which carried the possibility of a life sentence, and toward a sentencing fight over a substantially narrower range of punishment. Prosecutors agreed not to seek more than five to eight years in prison, while Coe’s defense remains free to argue that she should receive probation. District Judge Bill Simpson accepted the plea and ordered a presentence investigation. No sentencing date had been announced in the latest reports reviewed. A no-contest plea does not amount to an admission of guilt, but it allows a court to enter a conviction and impose punishment without a trial on the disputed charge.

The case began after a person contacted Cody police in late 2023 and reported that Coe had been looking for someone to kill her daughter’s boyfriend, according to an evidentiary affidavit described in court reporting. Prosecutors later alleged that Coe had approached more than one person before investigators became involved. That sequence would become important long after her arrest because Coe’s lawyers sought to raise entrapment as a defense. Prosecutors argued that the alleged effort to find a killer existed before any undercover officer entered the picture, making the police operation an opportunity to document an existing plan rather than an effort to create one.

On Dec. 20, 2023, a Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agent posing as a potential hit man contacted Coe and arranged to meet her at the store where she worked, according to the affidavit. Investigators said the agent wore a recording device while other officers listened. Coe directed him toward a back area away from cameras. During the conversation, she complained about her daughter’s boyfriend and described him as controlling and involved with drugs. She also claimed he repeatedly drew her daughter into drug use when he had money. Those descriptions were Coe’s allegations about the man and were not established as fact in the court reporting reviewed for this story.

The recorded discussion then turned to money and possible ways the boyfriend might die, investigators alleged. The undercover agent raised a price of $10,000. Coe reportedly indicated that the amount was fair but said she could not immediately produce it. When the conversation touched on making the death resemble a drug-related incident, Coe discussed the possibility of an overdose. The agent later indicated that he would prefer a shooting. According to the affidavit, Coe responded, “Works for me.” Investigators also alleged that she agreed to provide identifying information about the boyfriend, including photographs and details about his vehicle, address and workplace, as the discussions continued.

The alleged arrangement did not move forward. When Coe communicated with the agent again on Dec. 21, she said she could not afford the $10,000 price, according to investigators. She discussed potentially having some money after the new year and more after a raise the following spring. The agent offered to consider a lower amount, but Coe declined and said there was “too much risk involved,” the affidavit said. Authorities arrested her that day and booked her into the Park County Jail. The initial prosecution accused her of soliciting first-degree murder, setting up a case in which no killing occurred but the government argued that the alleged solicitation itself constituted a serious felony.

Coe initially pleaded not guilty and spent months in jail before posting a $50,000 surety bond, according to local court reporting. The case then moved through a series of procedural stages rather than directly to trial. She waived her right to a speedy trial in April 2024. The proceedings later included questions about whether she was mentally competent to continue with the case. After an evaluation by a Wyoming State Hospital psychologist, a stipulated order filed in May 2025 found that Coe could understand the court process, participate rationally in her defense and work with her attorney. The finding allowed the criminal case to move forward.

Another major dispute concerned the defense’s plan to argue entrapment. Coe’s attorney, Sam Krone, notified the court in 2025 that the defense wanted jurors to consider whether the undercover operation improperly induced her to commit a crime. Park County Deputy Attorney Larry Eichele opposed that theory. In a court filing described by Cowboy State Daily, Eichele argued that Coe’s alleged search for someone willing to kill the boyfriend predated her conversations with the state agent. He wrote that the agent “merely followed her lead” and contended that the evidence did not show police had persuaded a person who otherwise lacked a willingness to commit the offense.

That disagreement mattered because it went directly to how each side characterized the sting. The defense sought to put police conduct before a jury, while prosecutors said the case began only after an outside person warned authorities about Coe’s alleged intentions. The plea ultimately prevented a jury from having to decide the underlying murder-solicitation charge or weigh the competing arguments about inducement and predisposition. It also eliminated Coe’s exposure to the punishment attached to that original charge. In exchange, she accepted the legal consequences of a no-contest plea to attempted aggravated assault and battery, while preserving the ability to seek a nonprison sentence at the next stage.

The plea does not guarantee that Coe will receive either probation or the maximum prison term contemplated by the agreement. A presentence investigation ordered by Simpson is expected to give the court information about such matters as her background, work history, education, criminal history and family circumstances. Wyoming Probation and Parole prepares that report for the judge’s use in deciding an appropriate sentence. Krone told Cowboy State Daily that the judge retains sentencing authority, underscoring that the prosecution’s agreement caps what the state will request rather than dictating the court’s ultimate decision.

The case now turns to Simpson’s sentencing decision. A presentence investigation will give the court additional information about Coe before punishment is imposed, while prosecutors may seek imprisonment within the limits of the plea agreement and the defense may argue for probation. The latest reporting reviewed did not identify a sentencing date, leaving the length and form of Coe’s punishment unresolved.

Author note: Last updated November 8, 2026.