A jury convicted an Ocean Beach man Tuesday of misdemeanor battery of a woman whose bikini bottom was pulled down while she was sitting on a seawall near him close to the Ocean Beach pier.
After deliberating about 2½ hours over two days, the seven women and five men on the jury however acquitted Paul Dorian Malcolm, 27, of committing sexual battery. They also acquitted him of resisting arrest.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Laura Parsky ordered Malcolm released afterward with a sentence of time served. She said he served 207 days in jail and the maximum sentence for misdemeanor battery is 180 days. Parsky imposed no fine, saying his imprisonment satisfies a fine, and ordered him released without any probation terms. He left the central jail around 9 p.m. Malcolm did not testify in his trial that began June 16, but his attorney, Olesya Adams, described him as having “the mindset of a child.”
Adams didn’t present any defense witnesses, but said her client had the delusion of being a god. Police body camera footage of his Feb. 10 arrest showed him screaming when he was handcuffed at Bacon Street and Newport Avenue.
“He thinks gods should not be touched,” said Adams.
Malcolm told a police officer his god name was “Anubis” and he had the keys to the kingdom of heaven, according to police witnesses.
Adams said Malcolm lacked any sexual intent to the 26-year-old woman, who testified tearfully about the incident. Adams said he acted “as a reflex” and then walked away, she said.
Deputy City Attorney Angela Law said Malcolm pulled the bikini bottom because “he saw what he wanted and he grabbed it.” She said, “He felt rejected so he lashed out.”
The victim testified she was wearing a bikini and was seated on the seawall near the Ocean Beach Pier at 2:30 p.m. when Malcolm approached her and asked her for her name.
The woman gave her name, but Malcolm began “rambling.” At that point, she said she “put my earbud back in” to listen to music and ignored whatever he said to her.
“What he was saying, I didn’t understand,” she said.
She wept as she described how Malcolm pulled her bikini bottom down past her buttocks. She said she felt his fingers inside her bathing suit.
The woman said she yelled at him to leave, which he did. A friend summoned a lifeguard, who then called police. A judge earlier determined he was mentally competent to stand trial.