Man found not guilty of committing hate crime
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho man accused of a felony hate crime has been acquitted.
The Coeur d'Alene Press reports a jury on Thursday found 52-year-old Richard Sovenski, of Hayden, not guilty of malicious harassment, but guilty of a misdemeanor charge of battery.
The charges stemmed from an incident last summer in which Sovenski was filmed in a McDonald's parking lot screaming obscenities and slurs at teenagers in a church youth group.
Deputy prosecutor Arthur Verharen said Sovenski yelled racist and homophobic remarks at the teenagers and their adult supervisors.