photo by: Mackenzie Clark

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, which houses Douglas County District Court and a number of other criminal justice services at 111 E. 11th St., is pictured April 8, 2020.

A Lawrence man accused of sexually abusing a child over several years now wants to represent himself in court just weeks before he is scheduled to stand trial.

Dustyn Polk, 46, recently made a motion to represent himself in a case where he faces two counts of rape, three counts of aggravated criminal sodomy and one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. Those incidents are alleged to have occurred between 2015 and 2018, beginning when the girl was 10, according to a charging document in the case.

An assistant for Judge Sally Pokorny on Thursday confirmed that Polk had made the request but the judge had not yet ruled on it. A hearing on the motion is scheduled for Tuesday, and the trial is scheduled to begin on Feb. 7.

A formal motion outlining Polk’s request does not appear to have been filed, according to court records. Polk’s current court-appointed defense attorney, Michael Clarke, confirmed he is still representing Polk, but declined to comment on Polk’s request to represent himself.

All six of the charges are off-grid felonies, meaning Polk could be sentenced to life in prison for each if he is convicted. Additionally, in an affidavit supporting Polk’s arrest, police said Polk admitted to at least molesting the child and repeatedly called himself “a monster,” as the Journal-World previously reported.

Then, earlier this year, Polk was charged in a separate case with additional child sex crimes. In that case, he faces two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, one count of criminal sodomy and one count of indecent solicitation of a child.

The two aggravated indecent liberties charges allege that Polk had sexual intercourse with a child in one incident and that he fondled the same child in a separate incident. The charges are level-three and level-four felonies, respectively.

The other two charges allege that Polk engaged in sodomy, a level-three felony, and solicited unlawful sexual acts, a level-six felony, with the same child. All of the charges allege the incidents occurred sometime between January 2009 and January 2010, when the child would have been 15.

A preliminary hearing for that case is also scheduled for Tuesday. Polk is being represented by Clarke in that case as well, but he does not appear to have asked to represent himself in that case, according to court records.

Polk is currently in Douglas County Jail custody and being held on a $500,000 cash or surety bond for the first case and a $50,000 bond in the second case.