Plea Change in Casper Child Abuse Case

A man accused of inflicting injury upon a child while being responsible of the child's welfare has changed his plea in the case.

Jacob K. Sayler, of Casper, is charged with one count of child abouse inflicting serious bodily harm on a five month old child.

According to court papers, Sayler was intoxicated at the time and (quote) "just snapped" after the child had been crying and after dealing with neighbors who were alleged to be noisy.

During a District Court hearing in Natrona County, Sayler attempted to change his not-guilty plea to "guilty." However, when District Judge Catherine Wilking asked Sayler to tell her what happened, defense attorney Rob Oldham said that his client couldn't remember the events as he had been drunk at the time.

A police affidavit alleges that Sayler had been consuming whiskey and beer on the day of the incident.

Judge Wilking said that without proper elocution from Sayler, she would not accept a guilty plea. Instead an Alford plea was entered in the case.

An Alford plea is one where a defendant concedes that the prosecution has sufficient evidence to convict them, but maintains their innocence. In an Alford plea, elocution on the charges is given by the prosecution, outlining what they believe they would have been able to prove should the case have gone to trial.

Sayler will face sentencing at a later date.