Jury Selection Begins for Sexual Assault Trial of Casper Man

Jury selection began Tuesday for the trial of a Casper man accused of raping women at gunpoint.

The trial of Samuel Barrett in Natrona County District Court is expected to last eight days.

Opening statements by the prosecution and defense will begin Wednesday morning, according to the Natrona County Clerk of District Court.

Barrett is charged with seven counts of first-degree sexual assault, two counts of exploitation of children and a single count of blackmail.

He faces decades behind bars if convicted of all counts as first-degree sexual assault alone is punishable by between five and 50 years imprisonment.

Prosecutors also say Barrett held another woman at gunpoint and forced her to perform a sex act on an infant while he filmed it. He then threatened to turn the woman in for molesting a child and use the video as his proof if she did not have sex with him.

According to a heavily redacted affidavit of probable cause, a woman called Casper police on April 24 and said Barrett held her at gunpoint and forced her to perform oral sex on him. The woman told police Barrett had sexually assaulted her 10 years prior in addition to that day's incident.

During the investigation, a Natrona County Sheriff's investigator contacted police and advised of a similar investigation involving Barrett dating back to 2015.

In July of that year, a woman contacted the sheriff's office and said Barrett held her at gunpoint and forced her to perform oral sex on an infant child in November 2014. The alleged victim, in that case, said she only pretended to abuse the child, according to court documents.

Barrett remains free on a $100,000 bond.