RULING: Crime goes unpunished

It was a sad day in Coeur d'Alene when Judge Luster suspended the Tankovich brothers' five-year sentence (Coeur d'Alene Press page A1, Tuesday, March 29, 2011.) They were found guilty of felony counts of conspiracy to commit malicious harassment by a Kootenai County jury yet the judge didn't feel good about sentencing them to prison, and now our community is not safe from local thugs.

The judge doesn't believe the crime was racially motivated; but, unless he had privy to evidence not provided the jury, he totally disregarded what they concluded. The judge felt the Tankovichs had an out-of-control temper tantrum reducing their culpability to that of a 2-year-old rather than adults, who made a conscious decision to go to the home of an innocent, hard-working, business-owning, law-abiding citizen solely to intimidate, threaten and terrify the victims.

The Tankovichs are predictable: first, killing Fumasi during an out-of-control temper tantrum; second, attempting to harm Requena with a gun and a pit bull during an out-of-control temper tantrum; and now, who will be their next innocent, hard-working, business-owning, law-abiding victim when they don't "maintain their cool?" The Tankovich brothers are dangerous, scary and on the loose.

JULIE A. BROWN

Coeur d'Alene