A Casper man, who a jury found not guilty of sexual assault in 2017, is accused of raping a woman in May of last year.

Casper police say Michael D. Baird forced himself on the alleged victim and raped her in her bed the night of May 29th. Baird is charged with a single count of first-degree sexual assault. The case was bound over from circuit court to Natrona County District Court Tuesday morning.

If found guilty of first-degree sexual assault, Baird faces a minimum of five years behind bars with a maximum sentence of 50 years.

In 2017, a Natrona County jury found Baird not guilty of first-degree sexual assault and attempted first-degree sexual assault. Prosecutors, in that case, accused Baird of sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman in his bathroom in July 2015. A jury agreed with Baird's assertion that the incident was a consensual encounter.

Though the women are not fully named in the 2017 charges or the current charges, they do have different initials.

According to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the ongoing case, police began investigating after the alleged victim went to the Wyoming Medical Center emergency room in May for a sexual assault examination.

Baird and the alleged victim were living together at the time of the alleged incident. Court documents say Baird slept on the couch and the alleged victim slept in a bedroom. The night of the alleged incident, Baird and a friend were out drinking before they returned to the apartment. The alleged victim told Baird he could sleep on the couch and his friend could also stay in the apartment as they had both been drinking, the affidavit says.

Court documents say Baird's friend heard sounds coming from the room but did not hear the victim screaming. He did tell police that he heard Baird say something to the alleged victim about her crying.

Charging documents say the alleged victim told police she was laying down in her bed when she saw Baird standing the bedroom doorway. Baird then attempted to get into the bed and made several sexual advances, which the alleged victim refused, court documents say.

The affidavit says the alleged victim tried to pull away from the Baird but was also "frozen in fear." As the assault occurred, the victim was crying. She didn't scream out because she thought no one would hear her.

After the assault, Baird quickly fell asleep, the affidavit says. The alleged victim got up and quickly left the apartment before she and a friend went to the ER for the sexual assault examination.

When police executed a search warrant the next morning, Baird was still in the apartment. According to the affidavit, he told police he was out the night before with a friend and that he didn't remember the alleged victim being home. He then invoked his right to an attorney.

However, according to the affidavit, Baird asked a detective if the investigation was related to a sexual assault.

Baird has not entered a plea to the charge. He will have an opportunity to do that in an arraignment in Natrona County District Court. That hearing has not yet been scheduled.

As of Tuesday morning, Baird remains jailed.

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