COEUR d'ALENE - Two Coeur d'Alene brothers, convicted of a hate crime in which they shouted racial slurs and maliciously harassed a Hispanic man in front of his home, likely won't have to serve any time in prison for the crime.

First District Court Judge John Luster on Monday sentenced William M. Tankovich Jr., 50, and Frank J. Tankovich, 47, to two years of supervised probation. Luster suspended the brothers' five-year sentence, four years of which would have been fixed.

A District Court jury in Kootenai County in October found the Tankovich brothers guilty of felony counts of conspiracy to commit malicious harassment and malicious harassment against Kenneth A. Requena, 45, of Coeur d'Alene.

Luster said he has had reservations about the case and wasn't comfortable with a prison sentence for the Tankoviches' actions.

"I've struggled with the legal difficulties of this case," Luster said.

Luster said their crimes weren't race related. Rather, he said, the crimes resulted from a combination of anger and ignorance.

"You didn't maintain your cool" during their confrontation with Requena in August 2009, Luster told the brothers. A third brother, Ira G. Tankovich, 49, also was involved in the incident. He had already been sentenced for his involvement.

The judge added several conditions to the probation, including no use of alcohol or drugs and 300 hours of community service. If possible, Luster wants the men to serve the Human Rights Education Institute. He also ordered the brothers to have no contact with Requena and his wife, Kim, who is white.

Requena, after the sentencing hearing, said, "The judge has been on (the Tankoviches') side since day one."

Requena said Luster's sentence sent the message that, "It's OK to call somebody a 'beaner' and a 'terrorist'" and come to their house to menace and bully them.

"They were coming for a beat down" before police showed up, Requena said.

He said the sentence amounted to a "light slap on the wrist."

Speaking to Luster before being sentenced, Frank Tankovich took the opportunity to attack Requena, saying he started the whole incident when he pulled a gun on the brothers. They were the victims, not Requena, he argued.

Frank Tankovich's speech was rambling, and at times belligerent. He repeatedly pointed in the faces of Requena, seated directly behind him, and Kootenai County Deputy Prosecutor Art Verharen, to his left. He had Band-Aids or tape covering the knuckles of both hands.

Luster threatened to hold Frank Tankovich in contempt of court, but didn't.

Frank Tankovich described his version of what happened, arguing it had nothing to do with race.

"We have our beliefs, but we're not part of any groups," he said.

The brothers pulled up in front of the Requenas' house in a truck with a swastika and the words "Born 2 Kill" drawn on the dirty side panels of the vehicle.

Two of the brothers have white supremacist tattoos.

Frank Tankovich said when he was driving past the Requenas' house that day in August 2009, he and his brothers only stopped so William Tankovich could ask Requena for some electrical cable.

Requena runs an electrical contracting business and had a vehicle with his business name parked by his house.

Frank Tankovich said he was driving at the time because he was the least intoxicated of the group, which included the brothers and other family members. He said he was just getting over a seven-year addiction to heroine at the time.

Frank Tankovich accused Requena of being a former mobster who has been hiding in Coeur d'Alene in a witness protection program for snitching on associates back on the East Coast. Requena, outside the courtroom, said that wasn't true. He's not hiding, and not leaving Coeur d'Alene, either.

At least one of the three brothers got out of the pickup truck and approached the Requenas' driveway leading to the garage where the couple had been standing.

The Tankoviches left the scene after Kenneth Requena displayed a handgun. The Requenas called police.

"His remote (control) for the garage door was closer than his gun," Frank Tankovich complained to Luster.

He said the couple should have just shut the door if they didn't trust the brothers' intentions that day.

Finally, he asked Luster to let him serve any prison sentence the judge planned to give William Tankovich. He would do the time for them both.

"I'm a loser in life," Frank said. "I've got nothing."

He said William had established himself in the community, grown a family, stayed out of trouble with law enforcement and had long maintained a job. He didn't want to see his brother lose any of that.

Though the three brothers left the Requenas' residence after Ken Requena pulled his wife's handgun on the men, they returned on foot from two different directions about 20 to 30 minutes later.

Ira Tankovich returned with a handgun and William and Frank with a pit pull. Nobody ended up getting hurt in the incident.

Ira Tankovich was sentenced to nine years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm, for bringing a gun to the scene. Three of those years are fixed, meaning he cannot be paroled before that.

An April 2010 trial of all three brothers for the incident involving Requena resulted in a hung jury for William and Frank Tankovich's charges, and a verdict of guilty on a lesser misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to disturb the peace against Ira Tankovich.

The first trial of the brothers ended in a mistrial in March because of the introduction of inadmissible evidence on the first day.

Frank Tankovich has several previous convictions, including for rape.

Ira and William Tankovich are repeat felons having pleaded guilty years earlier to voluntary manslaughter for killing Floyd Fumasi, a rancher who lived near Galt, Calif. The two brothers said at the time of their arrest in California that they beat Fumasi to death because he threatened them with a 12-gauge shotgun, according to reports.