ELLSWORTH – A jury convicted an Ellsworth man who smeared dog feces on his neighbor of disorderly conduct Nov. 1 after a one-day jury trial.

Robert J. Schnorr, 78, represented himself in the trial. The jury deliberated for about half an hour before handing down the guilty verdict and a $443 fine.

According to the complaint: At 8:23 p.m. June 17, 2020, a complainant reported that Schnorr had walked up to his wife and smeared dog feces on her while she was out for a walk. The woman said a little after 8 p.m., she had stopped at her neighbor’s house with her kids and two dogs while on a walk in the 100 block of South Grant Street. While they talked, the dogs and neighborhood kids played in the yard. One of her dogs had been walking around, dragging its leash while the neighbors visited. When the victim saw the dog go behind a truck in her neighbor’s driveway, she instructed her child to get the dog because it was near Schnorr’s yard. She said she knew Schnorr wouldn’t want the dog near his yard and she was concerned.

After the child retrieved the dog, Schnorr appeared looking upset, marched up to the dog’s owner without speaking and smeared dog feces all over her chest and arms. He then apparently turned around and walked away without saying a word. At that point, she returned home and had her husband take a video of her before she cleaned up and changed clothes.

When police talked to Schnorr a short while later, he said “I just gave her back her dog s& *%, I wasn’t interested in it.” Schnorr showed the officer where the dog had defecated about six feet into his yard from the property line. Schnorr said he saw the dog defecating on his property and its owner just “lets the dog run.” When asked why he smeared the feces on the dog’s owner, he said he didn’t want it in his yard. He put on a rubber glove, picked it up and carried it over to her at the neighbor’s, where he smeared it on her. He said he didn’t just clean it up because he’s been dealing with the issue ever since he’s lived there and has gotten nowhere with them.

The officer told Schnorr that he can’t just go up to someone and smear them with dog feces, to which he answered “Yes I can.” He said he felt it was the only way to get it through her head and he’s sick of getting it in his mower.