Former Casper Businessman’s Sexual Assault File Has Been Expunged
The saga of the State of Wyoming v. Tony Scott Cercy sexual assault case filed in the Natrona County Clerk of District Court's office is now unavailable for public viewing.
That's four boxes with 23 volumes of documents, transcripts and exhibits over nearly two-and-a-half years.
Deleted.
Not there.
Expunged.
The case starting in June 2017 pitted a then 20-year-old woman who accused the wealthy former owner of Power Service in Mills of sexually assaulting her at his former home at Alcova Reservoir; his arrest in July; an indictment on three charges -- first-, second- and third-degree sexual assault; a trial in February 2018 during which Cercy was acquitted of the first two counts and a mistrial was declared on the third; the decision to retry the case with the sole count of third-degree sexual assault; the 10-day trial in Thermopolis and the guilty verdict; and four appeals to the Wyoming Supreme Court, with the last one resulting in its decision to dismiss the verdict on Dec. 27, 2019.
The alleged victim was willing to testify again.
But in early February, Assistant District Attorney Mike Blonigen declined to refile the case saying the Supreme Court's ruling would restrict what the prosecution could do in terms of alleging contact during the oral sex assault, making a conviction nearly impossible.
A recent check by a K2 Radio News reporter of Natrona County Clerk of Court records for the case -- Criminal Action No. 20872-A -- yielded nothing. There isn't even a record of the expungement having been ordered by a judge, or when it was ordered.
Natrona County District Attorney Dan Itzen said he believed Blonigen requested the expungement of Cercy's case.
Blonigen did not return several calls seeking comment.
State law allows for criminal records to be expunged 180 days after the charges were dismissed. That would put the earliest time the Cercy records could have been expunged at the end of June.
It's possible that the request could have been 180 days after Blonigen declined in early February to refile the third-degree sexual assault charge, which would have put the expungement in early August.
The law says a petition by a person to expunge their records must be reviewed by the prosecuting attorney for at least 20 days.
If no one objects to the petition, the court can then order the expungement.
According to the above timeline, the court could have issued the order about the end of August.
The law says the court then places the file under seal, and the file can only be reviewed by the court. The court also notifies the Wyoming Division of Investigation.
The person whose case has been expunged and the file sealed can then negatively respond to a question about whether they have been convicted of that particular crime.
The state, through a prosecuting attorney, may appeal the order of expungement.
While the file of Criminal Action No. 20872-A is under seal in Natrona County, the records of Cercy's appeals to the Wyoming Supreme Court are still available to the public.
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