BISMARCK - A Fargo man convicted of engaging in a riot at the 2006 Red River Valley Fair will serve the remainder of his sentence.
The North Dakota Parole Board voted 3-0 to deny parole to Mevludin Hidanovic, 28.
Hidanovic told the board - as he has maintained throughout his case - he was nowhere near a fight at the fairgrounds.
Board member Budd Warren, West Fargo, N.D., mentioned that witnesses at his trial with no connection to rival groups that fought testified seeing him there with a baseball bat.
But, during deliberations, board member Everett Nels Olson said they couldn't ignore or nullify the jury's guilty verdict. Board members discussed Hidanovic's other criminal convictions for menacing and assault in 2004, which involved domestic violence protection orders for his wife, Chanda. Hidanovic told the board his relationship with his wife is good now.
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Hidanovic is serving his 18-month sentence at the James River Correctional Center in Jamestown, N.D. The board interviewed him by interactive television. Bohn said that, with credit for good behavior, his sentence would expire May 21, 2008.
Warren said the board should disregard a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer. The ICE has asked penitentiary officials to hold Hidanovic for them when he finishes his sentence, so they can take him into custody for possible deportation to Bosnia.
"The immigration thing is going to be there whether we do anything or not," he said.
