Manders to make court appearance

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
The preliminary hearing in the case against Paul Manders for murder in the second degree has been postponed to Sept. 1, following a request for continuance from the public defender’s office, according to documents filed in Sixth Judicial Court in Newcastle. 
Rick Weisheimer, a Gillette-based assistant public defender, signed a motion to continue the preliminary hearing stating that, due to the gravity of the allegations, the defense needs “additional time to properly meet with Mr. Manders to discuss the facts and circumstances of his case in an effort to provide him with effective assistance.”
The hearing was originally scheduled for Aug. 4. 
Manders has been charged with
the murder of Vernon Clyde in
Osage after an ongoing property dispute, according to the affidavit of probable cause.  
The disputed property, according to court documents, is near and around 410 Metz St. in Osage. The location of the skid steer and body of Clyde appear to be in an area designated as being part of a county roadway and not part of the named property. 
“On July 27, 2021, at approximately 6:19 p.m., the Weston County dispatch center received a 911 call from Paul Manders who provided that an unknown person had come at him with a ‘skid steer’ and that he (Manders) had killed him,” the affidavit says. 
Deputy Dan Fields, who arrived at the scene, said that it appeared to him that the victim, later identified as Clyde, had been shot while sitting in a John Deere skid steer parked east of 410 Metz St. The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation was contacted to help with the investigation. 
DCI agents, the affidavit states, discovered four .45 caliber shells at the scene, and witnesses stated that they had heard four gunshots.

Clyde sustained three gunshot wounds, according to results of an autopsy performed by Dr. Thomas Bennett, a Sheridan-based forensic pathologist. 
“During the autopsy, Dr. Bennett noted three gunshot wounds to Clyde; specifically to Clyde’s right temple, right side of mouth and center of chest,” the affidavit says. 
Blood splatter found across the left and rear interior of the cab of the skid steer, to Clyde’s left and rear side, according to the document, further indicates that the splatter occurred while the skid steer was at rest and not in motion. 
Blood spatter on one of the joysticks of the skid steer, according to the investigating DCI agent, did not indicate “a hand being present on the joystick at the time of the blood splatter,” the affidavit states. 
Upon execution of a search warrant for 410 Metz St., agents discovered an iPhone that reportedly was used to call to the dispatch center and several others about the shooting incident. 
The agents also found a “loaded black Rock Island Armory brand 1911 style pistol chambered in .45 caliber with brown colored grips.”  The brand and type of ammunition loaded in the pistol matched the four .45 caliber casings located at the scene, the document says. 
Manders is currently being held in the Weston County Detention Center on $150,000 bond, cash or commercial surety bond. 
If convicted, Manders faces no less than 20 years in prison with a maximum sentence of life in prison. A fine of no more than $10,000 may also be added to the sentence.