Casper businessman Tony Cercy has filed a petition asking the Wyoming Supreme Court to either acquit him, or limit evidence at a retrial, of a charge of third-degree sexual assault.

Cercy was acquitted after an eight-day jury trial in Natrona County District Court in February of charges of first- and second-degree sexual assault of a then 20-year-old woman at Alcova Lake last June.

However, the jury could not reach a verdict in the charge of third-degree sexual assault, so the judge declared a mistrial.

Last month, Natrona County District Attorney Mike Blonigen said he intended to retry Cercy on that count.

Cercy responded, and asked District Court Judge Daniel Forgey either to acquit him on the third-degree sexual assault, or if the case would be retried, to limit the jury to consider only evidence whether sexual contact was made between the alleged victim and his penis, according to court records.

On March 15, Forgey denied Cercy's request.

Last week, Cercy filed a petition with the Wyoming Supreme Court again asking for an acquittal or to limit issues at retrial. The State of Wyoming is named as the defendant.

Cercy, through his attorney Tim Newcomb of Laramie, made the same arguments in the petition to the Wyoming Supreme Court as his former defense team of Ian Sandefer of Casper, and Pamela Mackey and Jeffrey Pagliuca made in their motions in District Court.

The jury in district court rejected the alleged victim's claims of sexual assault by oral sex when it acquitted Cercy of first- and second-degree sexual assault, according to court records.

For this and other reasons, a retrial on the third-degree count also will result in an acquittal. That is not fair to Cercy, Newcomb wrote.

According to the Wyoming Supreme Court, Wyoming Attorney General Peter Michael has until April 16 to respond to Cercy's petition.

Michael said in an email, "The Wyoming Attorney General's Office handles criminal appeals to the Wyoming Supreme Court, and that includes petitions to that Court in the form of writs of review. Our office is working on a response to this particular petition. I would say that we see a writ of review about once every other month, but they can be on a wide range of criminal law issues. I haven't had the chance to review Tim Newcomb's filing, so I could not comment on whether it is unique. With respect to the merits of the petition, I would not comment. Our position will appear in our brief when we file it."

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The case began last summer when the alleged victim told a Natrona County Sheriff's investigator she, her boyfriend, friends and acquaintances arrived at Alcova Lake on the evening of June 23 and spend the next day at the lake. She was drinking heavily and passed out on the rear deck of a boat at Sandy Beach.

On Saturday evening, they went to another location and about 9:45 p.m. went to a residence on Cedar Drive North owned by Cercy.

She said she went into the residence, passed out on the couch in the middle of the living room, and woke up to find Cercy performing oral sex. Cercy made comments to the effect that he had raped her, according to court records.

Nearly all of her clothing had been removed and Cercy was naked from the waist down, according to court records.

The alleged victim said he gave her a ride to a friend's place at the Alcova Trailer Park and threatened to kill her and himself, according to court records.

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