Prosecutors charged a Casper man with murder Monday, alleging that he wrapped a coat around his 9-month-old infant's head and the child suffocated to death.

Samuel Eugene McGehee, 38, is accused of stuffing the child's head into the sleeve of a coat Sunday after the child wouldn't be still long enough take a nap, according to a police affidavit. The child's lifeless body was found later that afternoon by his mother.

During McGehee's initial appearance in Natrona County Circuit Court on Monday, prosecutors charged him with first-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. If convicted, he faces life in prison.

Before Judge Stephen Brown read the charges aloud in court, McGehee said he was hard of hearing and asked Brown to speak up. A court deputy, sticking his mouth near McGehee's ear, relayed Brown's statements throughout the proceedings.

"Your honor, I think I need counsel," said McGehee, in an orange jumpsuit and with his hands and feet shackled.

Authorities declined Monday to say whether the child was a boy or girl. A birth announcement published in the Star-Tribune in March said McGehee had a son in February.

McGehee told officers he put the baby down to sleep Sunday afternoon, but "the baby would remove the blanket and crawl around the room," according to the affidavit. McGehee, who was alone with the child in the home when the alleged incident occurred, then put one of his wife's coats over the child's head. He told police the child tried to pull the coat away, so he tucked it "behind and around" the infant's head.

After not seeing the baby move for 10 minutes, McGehee left it alone in a room, according to the affidavit.

The mother told police that after arriving back at the home in the 1900 block of South Washington Street on Sunday, she looked into the room to check on the child. She initially thought the baby needed its diaper changed, but after looking closer, found her coat around its head and its body "cold," according to the affidavit. It appeared that the child's head had been in the sleeve of the coat.

She then took her son to her pastor's home and called police.

Police found what appeared to be vomit in the area where McGehee put the child down to sleep. They also found vomit in the coat's sleeve and what they thought was blood on a pillow, according to the affidavit.

Officers note that while interviewing McGehee, they found him "flat" and "not emotional," according to the affidavit. At several times, the document says, McGehee told police he wished he would have done things differently.

McGehee, whose bond was set at $250,000, remained in the Natrona County Detention Center on Monday.

Reach crime reporter William Browning at (307) 266-0534 or at william.browning@trib.com.