SAN JOSE -- A Santa Clara County jury deliberated for less than a day before convicting Dean Schwartzmiller today of molesting two San Jose boys, verdicts that could result in a life sentence for a man investigators have called one of the most prolific child molesters in the country.
The jury found Schwartzmiller, 64, guilty of a dozen molestation and child pornography charges. He faces up to life in prison at his sentencing.
He was accused of sexually abusing two cousins at his Vineyard Drive home in San Jose beginning when the boys were about 11 years old. . . .
[P]rosecutors contend Schwartzmiller has molested more than 100 young boys in eight states, Mexico and Brazil since the 1960s. He has been convicted of sex crimes in at least four cases in other states but got two of those verdicts overturned on appeal. . . .
[D]uring the trial, six men Schwartzmiller was accused of molesting years earlier took the witness stand in a San Jose courtroom, depicting him as a person who insinuated himself into family life or used a position of trust, such as coaching football, to isolate and then molest them.
Schwartzmiller's cross examination of those witnesses sometimes turned into testy exchanges as he questioned them about the alleged molestation.
Schwartzmiller represented himself at trial, but has now requested a public defender to represent him during the sentencing phase. Details here from the San Francisco Chronicle.