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 who recently asked to represent himself in court against significant child sex crime charges will now pursue mediation in the cases, which could result in him taking a plea deal.

Judge Sally Pokorny on Tuesday allowed Dustyn Polk, 46, to pursue mediation in a case where he is charged with two counts of rape, three counts of aggravated criminal sodomy and one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. He is also pursuing mediation in a separate case where he is charged with two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, one count of criminal sodomy and one count of indecent solicitation of a child.

Mediation is a process where a judge unaffiliated with the case helps the defense and prosecution agree on a resolution. Pokorny said Judge Kevin Moriarty, who previously served as chief judge for the Johnson County District Court, would serve as the mediator.

Polk’s court-appointed attorney, Michael Clarke, and the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office both signed off on Polk’s request to pursue mediation. Polk told the judge he wanted to pursue it because he had just learned it was an option for him.

The option is relatively new. Chief Judge James McCabria said in an email to the Journal-World that the court began offering mediation in August and that it serves as another avenue to find resolutions in a criminal case. However, he said the court’s role in the mediation is passive and the court cannot force either side into an agreement.

McCabria said if an agreement could not be reached, the case could then go on to trial “knowing each side made their best effort.”

Tuesday’s hearing in Polk’s case was originally expected to focus on his request to represent himself in the case. However, with Polk’s new request to pursue mediation, Pokorny on Tuesday did not make a ruling on his representation request.

Pokorny also canceled Polk’s upcoming trial, which was scheduled for Feb. 7, to allow time for the mediation process to take place. She said the trial would also need to be moved to a later date if Polk were allowed to represent himself so he could “get up to speed.”

In the first case, Polk is accused of yearslong sexual abuse of a girl. The incidents are alleged to have occurred between 2015 and 2018, beginning when the girl was 10, according to a charging document in the case.

All six of the charges Polk faces are off-grid felonies, meaning he 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, in October, Polk was charged with additional child sex crimes in the other case.

The two aggravated indecent liberties charges in that case 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 that the incidents occurred sometime between January 2009 and January 2010, when the child would have been 15.

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. He 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 for the second case.

Polk is next scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 19.