Jury Acquits Ex-Top Cop Of Felony Charges

Disturbing

Attorney Silverstein’s language leaves a lot to be desired: “I’ve never seen that in 36 fucking years,” Silverstein grumbled to his client after the judge gave the five prior jurors and the sixth alternate juror their new charge. ​“I’ve never seen him excuse a fucking juror.”

Domestic violence cases are usually “he said, she said” — without other witnesses. It’s disturbing that the jury chose to believe the defendant rather than his ex-wife.

Manipulated the state of ct and wasted tax payers dollars!!! Shame on you.
-CurlyClo

I say the jurors made the right decision based upon the trial that THEY sat through and listened to. NOT GUILTY. Enough said.

Really? The jury found Mr Tennant more credible than The wife who claimed she was Unlawfully detained for a week, even though a SWAT and hostage negotiation team had to coax him out of his house the night of his arrest and later found many firearms including an unregistered one and several oversized magazines that have been illegal in CT since 2014?

This honestly is a pretty sad day but not surprising. Just remember everyone, this is a JURY OF OUR PEERS. These are folks from the community that gave this decision, no one else. We can point the fingers back at ourselves if we are that upset.

They all sat through the case and they believed there wasn't enough evidence in regards to the felony charges.

It is what it is, surely people go into witness protection just because they are lying, that makes sense. The good ol' justice system, wow.

He told the court he "lobbed and empty lysol can at his wife so that she would catch it" in the middle of a fight. I don't have to have witnessed anything to know that Tennant is a liar, and that NHPD are covering for him. If you go back and read the actual reported events 4 years ago..this is a travesty of justice.

"Nineteen potential jurors walked into a fifth-floor courtroom Tuesday morning — and 18 were dismissed, revealing the challenges of finding jurors deemed fair to hear a case against a former police officer accused of domestic violence."

Conflicts,Relations etc.

A jury may have found Mr. Tennant "not guilty", but how will the larger community of his peers judge him?
Mr. Tennant got a huge break from Judge Alander's ruling limiting mention of prior acts of violence testified to by his ex-wife because he deemed them "too prejudicial". I think important and relevant testimony was curtailed that might have established a pattern of violence and persuaded the jury differently.
I think the comments here in the NHI show who was paying attention to the facts and who merely wanted an acquittal.
Tomorrow night Chief Jacobson and the Mayor Elicker will be at the Fame Academy for Multi-lingual Exploration (FAME ). Advance notice has stated that the Randy Cox matter will be discussed, among other matters.
I'm wondering how the Chief will handle Mr. Tennant's acquittal and return to the NHPD. I hope someone asks.
In my opinion Mr. Tennant is a walking bomb with untreated anger issues. The NHPD is only mandated to do a psychological evaluation every 5 years under new State law. What leverage does the Chief have in this situation?
I'm hoping the Chief will be creative and find some way to see that Mr. Tennant gets treatment or, in the alternative, that he does not endanger the public by handling any assignment where his volatility could expose the public, the City or the NHPD to any potential risk.
While the jury's decision is tremendously disappointing, we should focus on this woman and her three children who are forced to llve in secret and in fear.
What level of trauma have they experienced and how will it affect them for the rest of their lives? Will they ever be truly safe?
Will Mr. Tennant pursue visitation with the children? Will the court force the children to spend time with him, even if they don't want to? What happens to children who witness violence, both psychological and physical? Some are resilient and some will always be scarred.
When will our laws truly protect women and children from terrorism in their own home?

ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING. He played the waiting game. For four years she has had to hide from this monster while the community forgets he tortured her for years and caused an armed standoff. This is justice at its worst.

If you knew his ex wife you wouldn’t be making this comment but as it appears you are a white feminist & EVERY BLACK MAN will be in your radar. Why aren’t you commenting about the WHITE new haven police officers who were involved in domestic disputes a month before Mr. Tennants incident and 2 months after his incident. OH….. it makes sense… they weren’t black! Stay out of black business. & comment on your own people.

This is disturbing because if I have a domestics I’m getting arrested !!!! How is he not guilty!!!’

To Robn, everything you stated was alleged, coming from someone who knows. There was never a hostage situation. There were no eye witness accounts so it comes down to he say, she say and the jury did the right thing not guilty based on lack of evidence and lack of eye witness accounts.

Maybe I'm misreading the 12 articles liked above and the fact that he's referenced as "retired former" but I'm pretty sure he will not be returning to NHPD @Patty

I’m very disturbed about the outcome. Domestic violence cases are often he said she said and the fact that his ex-wife and children are in a safe house for four years that should say something in and of itself!! This outcome is shameful!

The jury listened to all of the evidence and information presented and made their decision. While acquitted of the serious charges this retired.Police officer will be forever judged as a domestic abused in the court of public opinion. Almost all of the info presented from both sides was unbelievable especially the Lysol can “lob” and the female officer “who was only a friend” . That sounded like a lot of BS. But the jury was there saw and heard the quality of case presentation from both sides and made their decision.

ElmCityLover
Let's hope not. However, NHI previously reported that part of his motivation for not pleading to a felony was that it would disqualify him from working as a police officer. In Connecticut, it's perfectly acceptable, and policy, for some police departments to employ criminals, so long as they are not convicted felons. If we our police officers to have "legitimacy" and be worthy of respect, we need to end our tolerance of criminal behavior by officers. The standard for continued should be much lower than a beyond a reasonable doubt and conviction for a crime with a sentence of over a year. First and foremost, we need to stop treating their jobs as "property" in the same way we do a house. Perhaps our Supreme Court, with its new reverence for original intent, will overturn Loudermill (Although our Connecticut Supreme Court would likely continue its principle as state constitutional law.)

Domestic violence is often “he said, she said.” Abusers often do their abuse in private, and isolate and threaten the victim to not disclose the abuse, and victims are often ashamed of the abuse and try to hide it, and the rest of their social circle are often unaware of the abuse.
The fact that the victim and her children are in witness protection should make it clear to everyone involved that she feared for her life. The photos documenting her injuries should matter more than the fact that only her children witnessed the abuse.
This officer was in the police unit that dealt with abuse cases, does anyone feel safe if a police officer in this unit is an accused abuser?
Unfortunately the abuser will now be permitted to join another police force and to abuse and terrorize women, even if the NHPD doesn’t rehire him.
We need a national registry where police departments can prevent hiring an officer who has been dismissed from another department for conduct unbecoming an officer. We must hold police to a higher standard of behavior.

So, as long as you lob flying objects, you aren’t perpetuating DV? I am infuriated. This is why DV is so lethal…NOBODY BELIEVES THE VICTIM. The judge wouldn’t allow evidence that illustrated the pattern of DV! Justice has not been served.

Here are some facts for some NHI readers .

Tennant was not dismissed from the NHPD.

He retired on December 10, 2019.

He was convicted of Breach of Peace, Domestic Violence. This conviction precludes him of purchasing or possessing a firearm. Unless a Police Department no longer has their members carry firearms, he can not be hired as a Cop.

His conviction also prevents him from being certified to be a Police Officer in Connecticut.

The State screwed up another high profile case. The State failed to get a conviction against Khan, who was accused of raping another undergraduate Yale student. The victim testified that she didn't remember anything but the next morning believed she was raped based on how her body felt. The jury was shown campus security camera footage of Khan and the victim happily walking together arm in arm not long before the alleged rape occurred. The State should have never brought charges especially when so many other sexual assault cases involving Yale students never get prosecuted. https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Former-Yale-student-found-not-guilty-of-sexual-12735402.php

The State almost lost the case against Rabbi pedophile Daniel Greer, when the most serious charges were dismissed because the State messed up the charges, not to mention the State was unable to subpoena Avi Hack who would have testified against Greer. https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/greer_sexual_assault_charges_dismissed

The State generally doesn't pursue felony charges in assault cases unless a bone is broken, yet the State expected a jury to destroy Tennant's life with a lengthy jail sentence. Everyone knows cops have to sit in solitary confinement for their own safety, which makes even a short jail sentence extremely punitive. The State could have brought in the kids to testify against their father, but chose not to, which bolstered Silverstein's argument that there were no witnesses. What was the State trying to hide? Jurors are not stupid. The State failed to object to Silverstein's juror nullification arguments in which he basically told the jury the law was unfair and that they should read the Book of Deuteronomy. The State hoped Tennant would be pressured to take a plea deal, Tennant knows that when you assert your Constitutional right to a jury trial and lose the Judge will have little mercy on your soul.

The system let this women down, now he's free to do it again. God help us