An Orange County man who believes jurors can ignore laws they disagree with was sentenced to jail time for his efforts to spread the word about his beliefs.

Judge Belvin Perry found Mark Schmidter guilty of contempt of court charges. He was arrested in June after police said he refused orders to stop distributing pamphlets advocating jury nullification at the Orange County Courthouse.

Before the Casey Anthony trial began in May, Perry issued an order limiting all First Amendment activities to two small boxes far from the courthouse doors.

During the sentencing, Perry made it clear that he believes free speech can interfere with fair trials.

Defense attorney Adam Sudbury argued that passing pamphlets at the courthouse is quintessential to free speech.

"It is the town square. To ban all First Amendment activities in the town square except small rectangles of areas out by the road is patently unreasonable," Sudbury said.

After an hour-long trial, Schmidter, 64, was sentenced to five months in jail. He could have been sentenced to up to six months in jail.

Schmidter said in court Tuesday that he planned to appeal the ruling.