Boise stadium foe charged over alleged ‘fighting words,’ forehead-touching at City Hall
Former Idaho Stampede owner Bill Ilett faces a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace following an incident during a Boise City Council meeting.
Prosecutors say Ilett, 74, verbally attacked John Brunelle, executive director of Boise’s urban renewal agency, Oct. 9.
The two men were at Boise City Hall for a council vote on ownership of The Grove Plaza and potential funding for a West End stadium.
It’s the first time city spokesman Mike Journee recalls criminal charges being filed against someone attending a City Council meeting, Journee said.
The council vote reaffirmed Boise’s plan to accept ownership of The Grove Plaza from its urban renewal agency, the Capital City Development Corp. That comes with a caveat, that the city must spend proceeds from any possible future sale of The Grove on a stadium.
Ilett has been a notable opponent of a developer’s proposal to build a new Boise stadium with public money.
The charge against Ilett was filed Nov. 21 in Ada County. When an Idaho Statesman reporter called Ilett on Wednesday afternoon, he said he was unaware of the charge.
Ilett told the Statesman that he spends his winters in California. He said he had not been served any papers, and assumed that his attorney must have been served the papers. Ilett’s attorney, Mark Manweiler, said he couldn’t yet comment on the pending case.
Garden City Attorney Charles Wadams is prosecuting the case due to a conflict at the Boise city prosecutor’s office. A copy of the criminal complaint claims that Ilett “did willfully and maliciously disturb the peace or quiet of a person,” Brunelle, “by threatening, traducing and/or challenging to fight” him.
The complaint accuses Ilett of “using fighting words while walking towards Mr. Brunelle, who was seated, and/or touching Mr. Brunelle’s forehead multiple times against his will.”
A witness at the meeting previously told the Statesman that he saw Ilett strike Brunelle. In October, the city said it planned to ban Ilett from City Hall for provoking a “physical confrontation” during the City Council meeting.
Occasionally, the City Council faces disruptions from angry crowds during meetings. Journee told the Statesman on Wednesday that he wasn’t aware of anyone else who had faced criminal charges for behavior during a public meeting at City Hall.
“But I’m also not aware of anyone who ever laid hands on someone,” Journee said in a telephone conversation Wednesday. “That’s the difference here.”
He said Wadams’ decision to prosecute Ilett went through the same process as any other person whose behavior was out of line.
This story was originally published November 28, 2018 at 3:39 PM.