COEUR d'ALENE - Joel Diekhoff says he wouldn't change what he did on that day in late August that led to a felony malicious harassment charge.

Even though he spent 26 days in jail, he insists he didn't do anything wrong.

"I don't feel I was out of line," the 29-year-old said Tuesday.

Maybe, he said, he should have called police to report a suspicious person. But that, he maintains, wasn't really an option.

"I just don't see wasting the cops' time," Diekhoff said.

So instead, the Coeur d'Alene man said he went outside his home to question a man he considered a suspicious person.

That led to a heated exchange and eventually, Diekhoff's arrest.

But on Tuesday in 1st District Court, Diekhoff pleaded guilty to a disturbing the peace charge, a misdemeanor, and the malicious harassment - also called hate crime -charge was dropped. He received 26 days credit for time served, and was free to go.

Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh said the prosecutor's office was confident moving forward with the original charge, but the challenges from the different actions from both parties led to the lesser charge.

"The case presented some challenges in terms of the conduct of both Mr. Diekhoff and our victim," McHugh said. "We certainly viewed it as a difficult case."

According to police, Demetrius K. Lee was walking to Sanders Beach on Saturday, Aug. 27, when Diekhoff shouted at him near 19th Street and East Mullan Avenue.

Lee, who is black, said during a probable cause hearing that Diekhoff asked if Lee was lost, using a racial slur. Lee yelled back.

Then Diekhoff went into his residence and came back outside with two other men, Lee said.

Lee ran to a nearby friend's house, and returned a few minutes later with a baseball bat. No blows were exchanged in the incident and Lee called police.

Lee told the court he saw Diekhoff, who had his shirt off at the time of the incident, had a swastika tattoo.

"Just because he played the race card, he's the cat's meow and I'm an evil demon," Diekhoff said.

He said people were constantly walking and jogging past on the Centennial Trail across the street from his home.

"The idea that I'm out there yelling at someone, threatening people ... is pretty ridiculous. It's so absurd," Diekhoff added.

He said he was "extremely, extremely disappointed" in how the incident was handled by law enforcement. He didn't understand how someone could threaten him and his daughter with a bat, in the front yard of his home, and he ended up being charged with a crime.

"And it was government sanctioned by the county and by the Coeur d'Alene Police Department," he said.

Diekhoff said he agreed to the reduced charge to put the incident behind him and so he could focus on caring for his family, including a son born Monday.

"I didn't see it sensible to risk this just on the morality of the issue, although I feel like I kind of laid down for something that was unjust," he said.

Diekhoff, who has since moved to another Coeur d'Alene home, said he wants to get on with his life. He said he hasn't been able to land a job since the incident, "due to the press demonizing me as a racist, which I'm not."

Lee could not be reached for comment.