Hayden man cleared of hate crime, found guilty of battery in altercation with Spokane church group last summer

A Hayden man who shouted racial slurs at a church group in a Coeur d’Alene McDonald’s and shoved a man on the ground was found guilty of battery in an Idaho court on Thursday, according to KHQ.

But a Kootenai County jury threw out an additional charge of malicious harassment, a hate crime, against Richard A. Sovenski Jr. .

On July 12, Sovenski visited the McDonald’s at 340 Hanley Ave., where he got into a fight with Quetzalcoatl J. Ceniceros. Sovenski pushed him to the ground, punched him once in the arm and shouted racial slurs at him and other members of a Spokane church group, according to court documents.

Sovenski’s attorney, Michael Palmer, told KHQ that Sovenski “was at the ragged edge. He had a lot of financial problems. His wife was in a lot of pain. She had just been through her ninth surgery to reconstruct her shoulder. They didn’t know if worker’s comp was going to cover things. He was behind in deadlines at work.

“He had a few beers. He just snapped. He didn’t certainly get into the altercation because of those peoples’ background, race or anything else. What he said I’m sure had to do with that, because that’s who was in front of him. But that doesn’t amount to a hate crime.”

The scene was also captured on video.

The penalties for battery are up to six months in county jail, up to $1,000 in fines and two years of prohibition, Palmer told KHQ. Sovenski would have faced up to five years if he had been charged with malicious harassment.

KHQ reported that Sovenski will be sentenced within 30 days.