Sovenski sentence includes jail, fine

COEUR d’ALENE — A Hayden man who was acquitted of a hate crime for an altercation with a group of Spokane teenagers last summer at a Coeur d’Alene McDonald’s was sentenced Tuesday for misdemeanor battery.

First District Judge Scott Wayman imposed the maximum sentence of 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine for the misdemeanor after reprimanding 52-year-old Richard Sovenski for his actions.

“This was an unprovoked attack in public in front of children,” Wayman said. “This was a crime. This was a battery.”

A jury last month acquitted Sovenski of the felony malicious harassment, a hate crime, but found him guilty of the misdemeanor after Sovenski was filmed in the parking lot of the McDonald’s on the 300 block of west Hanley Avenue yelling obscenities at teenangers from a Spokane-area church youth group.

Wayman allowed credit for the two days Sovenski had already served in jail after his arrest, and allowed the sheet metal foreman to be released from jail to go to work.

Youth group leader Quezacoatl Ceniceros, who testified that Sovenski had knocked him to the ground, and who had used his cellphone to document what happened after that — including Sovenski yelling at the teenagers — called the defendant a bully who needs to consider his actions.

“It has impacted me, but more importantly it has impacted the children,” Ceniceros said. “(Sovenski) needs to take a deep look at himself. He is a bully and takes it out on people.”

Sovenski, who testified last month on his behalf, told the court that work stress, his wife’s illness, and the screw up of his McDonald’s order caused further agitation when the teens acted rudely in the restaurant, and then egged on Sovenski outside the eatery.

A jury deliberated six hours Dec. 20 before acquitting Sovenski of the felony. His attorney, Michael Palmer, said his client’s anger wasn’t racially motivated.

“What we had here was a guy in a particular moment in time who was on the ragged edge, completely frayed,” Palmer said after the verdict. “He just snapped. What he said was completely inexcusable, but he didn’t get into it because of race.”

Wayman didn’t let Sovenski off the hook. The defendant’s actions were unpardonable, the judge said.

“The facts of the case are disturbing,” Wayman said. “These kids were behaving like kids behave. The whole thing was captured on video. Nothing justified your actions. Nothing. You had a bad day; lots of people have bad days. People that have days do not react the way you did. You took out your frustration on kids. A fun outing turned into a nightmare for these kids due to your behavior and actions.”