Paul Dorr went to trial today -- and he lost. He was convicted of one count of 5th degree criminal mischief. He will not serve any jail time. He received a $65 fine (the minimum amount for a simple misdemeanor offense, given that this was his first conviction). Dorr must also by a 35 percent surcharge of $22.75 and $60 in court costs.
The Sioux County Attorney's office issued a press release early this afternoon that essentially summarized the case, the guilty verdict, and the punishment in four paragraphs (immediately below):
Over the past several weeks I’ve been limited by Honorable Magistrate Lisa Mazurek, of Cherokee, IA in what I can offer to a Jury in defense of my actions last October. This was one of the reasons I requested she recuse herself and for a change of venue. She denied both. This is also why I asked her to waive my right of a Jury trial and face a bench trial today.
With her limitations on my defense I knew today that the outcome was a foregone conclusion, so I chose to remain silent. My Savior modeled this for me a redeemed sinner, in Matthew 26:62-63, 27:12-14. In a recent Court Order Mazurek stated that she will "... not allow discussion of the nature or cause of the Defendant’s [sic. Dorr’s] protest” to the seated jury.
If I can’t tell the content, that is the nature of this book and the three others, then how can any Jury learn the real cause of my actions? My cause was further represented in my full video. Prior to the trial County Attorney Kunstle told me that he only intended on entering the “relevant” part of the video, not all of it.
Would she even allow the Jury to know that a third party paid the library replacement costs of $76.89 in full? Or far worse, that the Orange City library has received $3,737 in cash donations and 952 replacement books as a result of the publicity my actions created. This is as of yesterday according to the Asst. Library Director.
In Magistrate Mazurek’s previous ruling (quoted by media across Iowa and the nation), she failed to mention and preserve, in any way, my presumption of innocence but instead stated (well before any jury verdict) that, “Mr. Dorr...is being sent the message that he cannot burn books that do not belong to him.” A second-hand report came to me about an attorney that I don’t know who heard the media and said - it’s done for Dorr.
Magistrate Mazurek also declared on April 25, 2019 that she alone will judge the law in this matter and that the Jury will only judge the facts as applied to the law she provides them. This stands in contrast to 400 years of Common-law jurisprudence in England & North America which has routinely acknowledged that the Jury is the final check of both the facts and the law. “The pages of history shine with instances of the jury’s exercise of its prerogative to disregard…instructions of the judge.” U.S. vs. Dougherty, 473 F2d 113, 136-137. Learning of their power, the Jury might have agreed the books are so offensive that the Criminal Mischief law doesn’t apply in my case and also condemn Iowa Law (§728.7) which exempts libraries from the criminal obscenity statutes which apply to others showing obscene material to children.
My intent was never criminal. My motive was to honor the Triune God in whom my faith resides and to protect the children of Orange City from being seduced into a life of sin and misery. I did it in such a way so as to exercise my freedom of speech and the freedom of my Biblical faith. I did it knowing that the U.S. flag which was burnt in Dallas, TX, in the late 1980s and it was later ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court to be Free Speech, was a stolen flag. I, at least, had lawful possession of the library books. And I believed, from the beginning, it to be an act of contrition for the sins of my generation to those of the younger ones, including our 27 grandchildren. Through our selfishness, fear and silence the older generations (especially on church councils) let it get this perverse. Oh may God forgive us!
My acts were justified. I share convictions with William of Nassau of the House of Orange, whom Orange City is named after, as found in the last stanza of the national anthem of the Netherlands, “But unto God, the greatest of majesties I owe obedience first and last. For justice wills it so.”Basically, he wanted a jury trial because he believed that the jury would be outraged over the content of the books that he burned and they would find him not guilty because of that. Which might actually happen in Sioux County, Iowa. But probably not.
It's worth noting that OC Pride 2019 will happen in roughly two months (October 18-20). Makes you wonder what shenanigans Dorr and his friends will attempt this year to defect from (or call attention to) during this year's festivities!