FARGO (AP) - The wife of a man serving an 18-month sentence for a Red River Valley Fairgrounds brawl has enlisted the help of a Michigan nonprofit group to overturn the conviction.

Mevludin Hidanovic, 29, was convicted bu a jury in January for engaging in a riot while armed, a felony that could lead to his deportation.

His wife, Chanda, is leading the charge to free Hidanovic, who has filed an appeal with the North Dakota Supreme Court. Hidanovic, who is serving his time at the James River Correctional Center in Jamestown, claims he was mistakenly identified by witnesses and a juror based the conviction on his ethnicity. He's a native of Bosnia.

Hidanovic's family is paying for the appeal, while the nonprofit INNOCENT, based in Muskegon, Mich., will help with outreach to elected officials and the community, Hidanovic's wife, Chanda, said.

"There wasn't anything else that convicted this guy, other than cross-racial identification, and that is just so unreliable," said Doug Tjapkes, president and founder of INNOCENT. "We're going to do our best to try to bring in some experts to help us sift through this."

The riot last summer involved between 20 and 30 people, some who needed hospitalization. Hidanovic, who moved to Fargo in 1999, and his family maintain that he was with them on the opposite side of the fairgrounds when the brawl broke out.