SPIRIT LAKE - A Spirit Lake City Council member whose battery and indecent exposure charges were recently dismissed said he believes the case prevented him from being re-elected, but he may run again in the future.

"You pick up the pieces and move on," said Jimmy Brown Jr., who will serve on the council until the new members are sworn in on Tuesday. "I like to help people. That's what I do. Maybe I'll run in a couple years. I need some reconciliation."

Brown was charged in October after allegations that he triggered a fight and exposed himself behind a Spirit Lake bar last June.

"The sad truth is that it was a political smear campaign," Brown said, referring to what he believes motivated the allegations. "I believe it was done intentionally by someone who, for some reason, didn't want me in city politics."

Brown was among six candidates who ran for two open council seats in November. Joy Porter and Autumn Massender were elected, while Brown and fellow incumbent Bill Erickson were ousted.

Brown said he didn't campaign as hard as he should have, but there's "no question" that the allegations against him proved costly at the polls.

"The damage was done," he said. "It's unfortunate that people can say anything to have charges brought forward."

Brown said that, before the alleged incident, he had never seen the couple who made the allegations.

Brown said he is moving on rather than fighting back.

"I have no animosity toward anybody," he said. "People know who I am. Dealing with everything in a small city can get confusing, but we're all in this together whether we like it or not."

Brown, a construction consultant, has served on the city's Historical Preservation Commission and is involved with the Masonic Lodge in Spirit Lake. His father was a Spirit Lake mayor.

Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh said charges against Brown were dismissed because witness testimony, after charges were made, revealed the case would come down to the testimony of Brown against the complainants.

"There was only one witness besides (the complainants) who said Mr. Brown punched (the husband), and she later said she could not identify either one in court," McHugh wrote in an email to The Press. "Other witnesses said no battery took place and that (the husband) initiated the confrontation with Mr. Brown. Based on the inconsistencies, a conclusion was reached that the state could not prevail on the charges at trial."