COEUR d'ALENE - A jury on Thursday in a hate-crime trial returned guilty verdicts against two white Coeur d'Alene men who were charged with threatening a Hispanic man because of his race.

William M. Tankovich Jr., 50, and brother Frank J. Tankovich, 47, were found guilty of felony counts of conspiracy to commit malicious harassment and malicious harassment.

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 13.

The Kootenai County District Court jury agreed with prosecutors who presented evidence showing the Tankoviches threatened and shouted racial slurs at Kenneth Requena, 44, in August 2009, outside his Coeur d'Alene home.

Requena, in an interview after the verdict, said, "I'm glad that justice was served. I feel good about it. Maybe there's still hope for North Idaho as far as this race thing is concerned."

But Requena, who has lived here since 1991, added, "I hope nobody wants to take revenge on me or anything. And hopefully nothing like this ever happens to me again."

Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh said, "I hope (the verdict) sends a message that these kinds of crimes will be pursued in an aggressive fashion."

Frank Tankovich said he and his brother "just totally got railroaded."

William Tankovich's defense attorney, Chris Schwartz, said the testimony of a prosecution expert witness was the biggest difference between this trial and the previous one in April. That trial went to a jury, but the jury was deadlocked on the charges against William and Frank Tankovich.

The witness, Tim Higgins of the Idaho Department of Correction, said two tattoos of William Tankovich's are common among men in Aryan or white supremacy groups. He said he sees them regularly in the state's prison system, where he reviews all tattoos of inmates.

In August 2009, William and Frank Tankovich, and their brother, Ira G. Tankovich, 48, drove by Requena's home in a large pickup truck with a swastika and the words "born 2 kill" drawn in dirt on the vehicle's sides.

The truck stopped in front of Requena's garage where he and his wife were smoking with the door open.

Requena testified that he was alarmed after the truck passed and the Tankoviches looked at him and his white wife in "disgust." The truck passed, but then backed up.

His wife, Kim Requena, went inside their home and called 911 and grabbed a handgun. The brothers got out of the truck, but stopped coming toward him when he displayed the gun. Police arrived and the brothers left, but returned about 20 to 30 minutes later on foot from two different directions, Ira Tankovich with a gun from one direction and William and Frank with a pit bull from another.

Presiding juror Tracey Crook, of Coeur d'Alene, said after the verdict that the conspiracy charge was clear to her from the fact that the Tankoviches returned to Requena's home after the initial confrontation.

The swastika and the truck backing up to confront Requena made the threats and harassment clear to her, she said. The Tankoviches also repeatedly referred to Requena as a "beaner" during the confrontations.

The jury began deliberating Thursday after closing arguments and visiting the scene of the incident, at Pennsylvania Avenue and 20th Street.

In an unusual turn of events, jurors halted their deliberations later in the day after one juror disclosed that he and his friends sometimes write "white power" or something similar in the dirt on their trucks when they have been mud bogging.

Crook, as the presiding juror, was called into the courtroom while the other jurors remained in their chambers. She was questioned on the record by First District Judge John Luster.

She told the court that the other jurors asked that juror if he is racist.

The juror reportedly responded, "'Not all the way racist,'" according to Crook.

Crook was excused back to the jury chambers.

The defense attorneys expressed concern about how the other jurors handled the situation following the juror's disclosure.

Luster said the man had not shown he's incapable of being a fair and impartial juror and ordered the jury to continue its deliberations.

McHugh, in an interview, said the situation was handled properly by the court, but it does create a possibility of the court again declaring a mistrial in the case.

Ira Tankovich was convicted of conspiracy to commit disturbing the peace in the April trial. He later pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a handgun, a charge that stems from him bringing the handgun to the Requenas' home.