Stevens County man’s acquittal of hate crime after threatening Kettle Falls family surprises prosecutors

A jury recently acquitted a Stevens County man of burglary and malicious harassment charges he faced after he broke into the Kettle Falls Inn and threatened the manager and his family with a knife and called them terrorists.

However, jurors found Brandon Kenneth Leon Kilgore, 28, guilty of second-degree assault and malicious mischief for the attack. He faces 12 to 14 months in prison when he is sentenced Tuesday.

The result surprised prosecutors and one of the victims, Preet Moudgil, who was born in India.

Prosecutor Tim Rasmussen said he thinks the jury was fixated on the fact that Kilgore didn’t steal anything, though theft is not a required element of a burglary. “They got hung up on that,” he said. “We believe that the elements proved it was a burglary. He remained inside for an unlawful purpose.”

Moudgil said he is baffled by the acquittal on the burglary charge.

“The way the case was presented, they tried to make it look like he was a drunk guy who didn’t know what he was doing,” he said. “He broke two doors in the house, came inside with a knife and threatened everybody, and still it’s not a burglary.”

Kilgore was charged with malicious harassment, Washington’s version of a hate crime, because he reportedly called the Moudgils terrorists and said he “was trained to kill people like them,” according to court documents.

The jury didn’t see Kilgore’s comments as a hate crime, Rasmussen said. “He said some hateful words, but they thought it was drunken … talk,” he said. “They don’t think he went in there with the purpose of doing what he did because they were foreign.”

Before the trial, Kilgore was evaluated by a psychologist to determine if he was fit to stand trial. He was ruled competent, but the report indicated Kilgore has a history of using drugs and alcohol, as well as anxiety and antisocial personality traits.

The report notes that Kilgore joined the Army at age 21 but had a number of disciplinary issues and was given a general discharge before his enlistment was complete. A general discharge is one step below an honorable discharge. During his enlistment, Kilgore once sent a letter to his commanding officer stating that he believed God and Jesus were talking to him, the report states.

Kilgore told the psychologist he didn’t believe he should be convicted for his actions at the Kettle Falls Inn and that he might file a lawsuit against the man who tackled him to the ground, the report states.

His criminal history includes convictions for malicious mischief, criminal trespassing, assault, resisting arrest and bail jumping.

Moudgil testified during Kilgore’s trial, but said he wasn’t given enough advance notice of the trial to fly in his parents from India to testify. As a result, a second charge of assault was dropped.

Rasmussen said the decision was made not to fly Moudgil’s parents in from India, so the judge dismissed the assault charge that included Moudgil’s father as the victim.

Moudgil armed himself with a gun during the break-in but never fired at Kilgore.

“That makes me think Mr. Kilgore is probably lucky to be alive,” Rasmussen said. “I think Preet showed restraint.”

Rasmussen said two FBI agents sat through the trial, and Kilgore could still be charged with a federal hate crime. “They sat there and looked at the evidence,” he said.

FBI spokeswoman Ayn Dietrich-Williams confirmed the FBI is reviewing the case.

“The FBI takes the possibility of hate crimes seriously because they are not only an attack on the victim, but are meant to threaten and intimidate an entire community,” she said.

Despite what happened, Moudgil said the Kettle Falls community has been supportive of his family.

“Everyone else around here is awesome people,” he said.