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April 19, 2010 in Idaho
Hate crime trial ends with one misdemeanor conviction
From left, brothers William Tankovich, Ira Tankovich and Frank Tankovich await their verdicts in a Kootenai County courtroom Monday, April 19, 2010. The jury hung on all counts except for one misdemeanor count against Ira Tankovich. At far right is defense attorney Dan Cooper.
(Full-size photo)
Jurors convicted a North Idaho man of conspiracy to commit disturbing the peace, a misdemeanor, in the first hate crime case to go to trial in Coeur d’Alene in recent years. The jury hung on two counts against the man’s brothers.
The three brothers were charged with harassing a Coeur d’Alene man, Kenneth Requena, last August. Ira G. Tankovich, 48, was charged with conspiracy to commit malicious harassement, while his brothers, William M. Tankovich, 49, and Frank J. Tankovich, 46, faced that charge as well as the charge of malicious harassment.
Ira Tankovich will be released on his own recognizance, having already served six months in jail — the equivalent to the maximum penalty on the misdemeanor conviction.
Court officers said the jury was 11-to-1 in favor of finding William and Frank Tankovich not guilty, but the inability to reach a unanimous decision resulted in the hung verdict.
In closing arguments last week, Kootenai County Deputy Prosecutor Art Verharen said Requena is a dark-skinned man who was sitting in his garage Aug. 16 with his white wife when the men drove by in a pickup truck bearing a swastika. They backed up, stopped in the middle of the street, and got out. Verharen said Ira’s tattoos depict stars and the words “Aryan pride,” and William’s, the Nazi “SS” insignia, which defense attorneys contend merely shows lightning bolts.
The men left when Requena displayed a handgun, Verharen said, but returned, from two different directions. Two brothers walked a pit bull and the third approached from a different direction with a loaded gun. Two neighbors watching the scene called 911.
“You can see the different levels of threats that were faced by Kenneth Requena,” Verharen said. “Keep in mind the level of planning they had to do here.”
Verharen said the brothers repeatedly used the word “beaner.”
“They didn’t call Mr. Requena a jerk,” Verharen said. “They chose the one word that was racially insensitive to that person and they said it over and over and over again.”
The three defense attorneys said the case is not about race. It is about three brothers driving by the home and Requena making a provocative gesture toward them, then pulling a gun.
They tried to cast doubt about whether a swastika really was drawn in the dirt on the truck, about whether the Tankoviches actually made threatening statements or whether they were just angry when they learned Requena wouldn’t be arrested for pulling a gun. They said the Tankoviches used racial slurs, but did not do so in a threatening manner.
“It was to retaliate for Mr. Requena’s unlawful and unwarranted use of a firearm,” said attorney Christopher Schwartz, who represents William Tankovich.
Schwartz pointed to a 911 tape on which his client can be heard calling the police when the brothers returned to the scene. He asked why, if the Tankoviches were committing a crime, they would invite the police.
“If it was a conspiracy, would they have walked there in broad daylight?” asked attorney Dan Cooper, who represents Frank Tankovich. “This was a neighborhood incident based on misperception. It is not based on race.”
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ChefGus/ John Olsen on April 19 at 6:07 p.m.
Thank you, deeply to the ONE brave citizen that stood their ground and kept this from becoming yet another farce in our criminal justice system that allows police officers and racists to ply their trade with impunity… bless you john
greyhound2 on April 19 at 7:09 p.m.
Another “he said/she said” deal. The plantiff should be required to pay attorney fees and court costs of the accused. The accuser should not be allowed to walk free with no penalty after filing unsubstantiated charges which have resulted in damages to the accused.
Reminds me of about a year ago when two women filed sexual harrasement charges against players of a Lacross team on the east coast. After the players were suspended for a year, their lives interrupted, with time and expenses lost, the two accursers admitted they had made it all up. Penalty to the accursers: none. They were free to go, case dropped. Unfair.
Also, the Idaho State funded Human Rights Commission in Coeur d’Alene, who are drawing full time paychecks to create problems that don’t exist, are also are paying $1,000 as a reward to accusers filing a claim, which makes you wonder what the underlying motivation really is. The same Commission was slated for closure due to funding problems of the State, and appear to be stuping to new lows to save their own jobs.
While the defendents are not angels, the CDA Press failed to report items which appeared in the Spokesman, specifically: the testimony of the accusers wife that her husband started the arguement was deleted, and that the criminal background of the plantiff on drug charges and weapons violations was deleted. Thanks for the Spokesman for accurate unbiased coverage.
In this system, anybody can file charges against anybody for any reason at any time. But once done, the burden of proof is on the plaintiff. If charges prove to be unsubstianted, the plantiff should be required to pay attorney fees and court costs of the defendent to suffer some penalty. Walking free down the road with no penalty is unfair. One person did lose his job in the Lacrosse deal, that was the prosecuting attorney who wasted everybody’s time and money on a bogus charge.
Divotlady on April 19 at 7:49 p.m.
oneanddone on April 19 at 7:59 p.m.
Right on Greyhound. If lawsuit losers had to pay all costs there’d be a lot fewer lawyers drumming up business.
And ChefGus, most of time when over 90% of good people think something should be decided a certain way, then the 10% are usually just flat wrong. You weren’t at the trial and you didn’t hear the evidence, but you’re willing to condemn honest hard working people just because you have an axe to grind. Get a life.