Old Assault Allegation To Be Cited At Tony Cercy Sentencing
Convicted sex offender and former Casper businessman Tony Cercy allegedly sexually assaulted a woman at a local strip club, according to a document filed by the Natrona County District Attorney's Office.
Special Assistant District Attorney Mike Blonigen wants to call two people who saw the alleged incident to possibly testify at Cercy's sentencing later this month, according to a request he filed in the Clerk of District Court Office on Friday.
Cercy was never charged with this alleged assault, but Wyoming law allows for such incidents to be presented during sentencing hearings, Blonigen wrote.
Cercy, who was convicted of third-degree sexual assault in a trial in Hot Springs County in November, is scheduled to be sentenced during a three-and-a-half hour hearing at 10 a.m. Feb. 27. He faces up to 15 years of imprisonment.
Former District Attorney Blonigen, who retired last month after deciding not to run for re-election, will be the special prosecutor for the scheduled three-and-a-half hour hearing.
Cercy was charged with sexually assaulting a 20-year-old woman at his former home at Alcove Lake in June 2017. He was acquitted of first- and second-degree sexual assault in a trial in Natrona County District Court a year ago. The jury deadlocked on a count of third-degree sexual assault, and he was retried.
The presentence investigation, which is not public, has been submitted to Natrona County District Court, according to confidential Clerk of District Court records.
On Friday, Blonigen filed a notice of intent to introduce other evidence.
He cited a 2013 Wyoming Supreme Court ruling about using "unconvinced conduct" during sentencing proceedings, citing a previous 2007 ruling that a court may, "'...go beyond the record to consider the defendant's past conduct and activities including evidence of crimes for which charges were filed but no conviction resulted. The scope of the inquiry may include the factual basis of dismissed charges 'as well as hearsay reports implicating the defendant in other crimes if such reports are deemed sufficiently reliable.'"
Specifically, Blonigen will call Derek Hamilton and Sonny Pilcher who were eyewitnesses to the alleged sexual assault committed by Cercy at the Rack's Gentlemen's Club west of Casper.
The court filing did not give any further details about the incident or when it happened.