bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "LCMS Lay Pastor Convicted - But the Synod Official...":
The article says Schauer waived his right to having the jury decide whether his 1983 conviction constitutes aggravating circumstances that would ensure he gets a stricter (or maximum) sentence. I would bet the prosecutor demanded a jury trial because ever since 1983, Schauer was saying he was innocent, and people in the LCMS believed him, so just having a judge say he was guilty wasn't good enough this time. This other article says the jury trial lasted three days:
Former Lake George lay minister convicted of six sex crimes:
http://www.parkrapidsenterprise.com/event/article/id/35051/
The Hubbard County Attorney's office on November 29, 2012, completed a three day jury trial concerning the case of State v. Darwin Frederick Schauer, DOB 09/21/1941 from Laporte.
