Thomas Breen photo
Defense attorney Silverstein and ex-Lt. Tennant in court Wednesday.
A state judge ordered ex-New Haven Police Lt. Rahgue Tennant to pay a $500 fine — and gave him no time in prison or on probation — after he was found guilty of recklessly causing physical harm to his then-wife by throwing a Lysol can at her head.
The judge also barred Tennant from making contact with his ex-wife. And he made clear that this misdemeanor criminal conviction prohibits him from owning guns or ammunition.
State Superior Court Judge Jon Alander handed down that sentence Wednesday morning at the end of a half-hour hearing held in Courtroom 5A at the state courthouse at 235 Church St.
The sentence marked the culmination of nearly four years of court hearings and a weeklong criminal trial earlier this summer for Tennant, a now-retired former police lieutenant who was arrested in 2018 for allegedly assaulting his wife, holding his family hostage, and threatening to shoot up his East Shore home.
On July 25, a jury found Tennant guilty of one misdemeanor count of second-degree breach of peace for recklessly causing physical harm to his then-wife by throwing a Lysol can at her heard during an argument at home on Aug. 30, 2018. That jury also acquitted Tennant of two felony charges, one count of second-degree assault and one count of risk of injury to a child, stemming from that same 2018 incident.
Judge Alander.
On Wednesday, Alander granted Tennant an unconditional discharge for his misdemeanor conviction, which carried a maximum potential prison sentence of six months.
That means that Tennant won’t serve any time behind bars or any time under court-ordered supervision for this offense.
The jury found that Tennant’s conduct was “reckless, not intentional,” Alander said when explaining his sentence. “Obviously, Mr. Tennant has no criminal history.” And over the past nearly four years since his arrest, he has complied with all of the terms of his court-ordered supervised release.
Because federal law considers this conviction a domestic violence offense, the judge continued, “the defendant is now prohibited from possessing any firearm or ammunition.”
The judge also imposed a $500 fine on Tennant, which defense attorney Rick Silverstein said his client would be able to pay that morning.
At the recommendation of state prosecutor Jason Germain and with the consent of Tennant and his attorney, Alander maintained a criminal protective order that Tennant’s ex-wife has had against him for the past nearly four years. That means that Tennant is prohibited from making any contact with her going forward.
The judge did amend that protective order to allow Tennant to visit his three children, if the state’s family court permits such visitation rights.
Ex-Wife: "Years Of Physical & Emotional Abuse"
State prosecutor Jason Germain.
Before the judge delivered Tennant’s sentence, Germain reviewed the allegations of a years-long pattern of physical and emotional violence that the ex-cop allegedly perpetrated against his then-wife, all to underscore the “severity of the case.” (During his time at the witness stand during the trial, Tennant denied all of the state’s and his ex-wife’s allegations of abuse, and — in regards to the incident that led to his arrest – he said that he did not throw, but “lobbed” the can at his then-wife’s head amidst an argument.)
Germain asked the court to maintain the ex-wife’s current criminal protective order against Tennant.
But, under Alander’s questioning, Germain said that the state was not asking for any prison time for the retired former top cop.
“The state is not going to be seeking incarceration,” he said. “He’s been monitored. He’s been on GPS. There hasn’t been one problem with him in four years.”
State family violence victim advocate Andrea O’Connor then read a three-page letter that Tennant’s ex-wife had written in advance of Wednesday’s sentencing hearing. The ex-wife, who testified at length during the jury trial in July, did not come in person to the courthouse on Wednesday. She instead listened in to the proceedings via a cellphone set up by the state prosecutors and the victim advocate.
In her letter, Tennant’s ex-wife pleaded for the judge to maintain the criminal protective order against her ex-husband because of the fear that she still has that he will hurt her and their three children.
“I endured years of physical and emotional abuse,” the letter read. She said that family members and friends have seen her black eyes over the years. They’ve heard her pleas for help. They’ve heard her prayers for him to come home safely from his job as a cop change over the years into prayers that he wouldn’t come home and hurt her.
“He instilled fear with his beatings and chokings,” she wrote. “His escalation of violence and his repeated threats on myself” have caused PTSD for her and her kids. “This violence has been a cost to me physically, emotionally, and financially.” She still does not sleep well and has frequent headaches because of the alleged abuse she endured.
“Rahgue Tennant has taken away my sense of safety and security. … I fear my children will become motherless” because of his alleged sustained violence against her.
She said that she has lost close contact with friends and family over the years because of the alleged domestic violence of her relationship with Tennant, and because of her eventually coming forward to the police to tell her side of what happened. She said her ex-husband’s inability to take personal responsibility for what allegedly happened shows his “lack of accountability and integrity.”
Silverstein: "We Overreact" To Domestic Violence
Thomas Breen file photo
Silverstein with co-counsel Jamie Alosi.
During his time before the judge, Silverstein rebuffed the ex-wife’s and Germain’s statements as all allegations, not facts.
The facts of the case, he said, as determined by the jury, were that Tennant recklessly caused harm to his then-wife. The jury did not find that he intentionally or recklessly assaulted her, and they did not give credit to her testimony that there was a years-long pattern of physical and emotional abuse in their relationship.
“The jury did not find her credible,” Silverstein said about the ex-wife.
He noted that Tennant has complied with all of the terms of his supervised release over the past four years, and that he continues to go to therapy.
Silverstein asked the judge for an unconditional discharge, even as he consented to the maintenance of the ex-wife’s standing criminal protective order against his client.
“He has no intention of ever seeing his former wife again,” Silverstein said. However, “he does want to see his children,” and he asked the judge to modify the order to make it clear that Tennant will be able to see his three kids.
Silverstein also asked the judge to change a part of the protective order that prohibits Tennant from owning any firearms. He said that he and Tennant plan to seek a pardon from the state for this misdemeanor conviction. If that pardon comes through, he said, Tennant would be able to own guns again — and therefore would be able to return to a job in law enforcement if he so chose.
That door would be closed to his client, Silverstein said, if the standing protective order maintained a prohibition on him owning guns and ammo. Keeping him from owning guns going forward “would essentially end any career in law enforcement,” Silverstein said.
The judge ultimately left that provision in the protective order, though he said that Silverstein might be misreading it. That part of the order simply warns Tennant that there are penalties for owning guns when one is legally prohibited from doing so. The judge said that the misdemeanor conviction is what bars Tennant from owning guns and, because that is a federal rule, the matter is outside of the state judge’s control.
Silverstein then railed against state laws around domestic violence as an example of how “we overreact” in Connecticut.
He said there are now more “victim advocates” and “peace programs” than state’s attorneys at the courthouse, and that “hard cases make bad law.” He said that current state domestic violence laws “go way far and above what is warranted by the problem.”
“I know it doesn’t make me very popular,” he said about his stance on domestic violence law.
Finally, Silverstein asked the judge to transfer ownership of Tennant’s four guns — an AR-15 rifle, a pump-action shotgun, and two handguns — to Silverstein. That way the defense attorney could either hold onto the guns for Tennant, or sell them and give Tennant whatever money he earns.
“I am a licensed permittee,” Silverstein said. “I do have an assault weapon myself. … I have a lot of firearms.”
Instead of transferring the guns to Silverstein, Alander decided to give Tennant 60 days to find a licensed arms dealer willing to purchase these four guns from him. If he doesn’t sell the guns in that time, then the guns will be destroyed.
Alander also disagreed with Silverstein’s critique of domestic violence law.
“I do not find that the state has overreacted to the problem of domestic violence,” the judge said. “Domestic violence is a serious, serious issue in the community.”
See below for previous articles about Rahgue Tennant’s arrest and criminal case.
• Jury Acquits Ex-Top Cop Of Felony Charges
• Ex-Top Cop Trial, Day 5: Jury Nears A Verdict
• Day 4: Tennant Takes The Stand
• Trial Day 3: Rick Silverstein Goes For Broke
• Ex-Top Cop Trial, Day 2: Police-Domestic Violence Risks Take Center Stage
• Ex-Top Cop Trial, Day 1: Alleged Domestic Abuse History Revealed
• Slow Start To Picking Ex-Cop’s Jury
• Ex-Top Cop Gambles On Trial
• Ex-Top Cop Seeks Diversionary Program
• Top Cop Retires, Heads To Trial
• Top Cop Rejects Battering Plea Deal
• Arrested Top Cop Keeps Running Out Clock
• Top Cop Benefits As Case Drags On
• Top Cop’s Domestic Violence Case Continued Again
• Accused Wife-Beating Top Cop Staying Sober
• Top Cop Domestic Violence Case Continued
• Cop’s Alleged Threats, Violence Detailed
• Cops Suspend Lt. After Armed Standoff
Wow, a slap on the wrist and the abuser goes free to abuse the next domestic partner or his children. If anything happens to anyone at his hands, the court is responsible for this travesty of justice. I hope the state in light of his conviction, however minor, prevents him from ever serving in law enforcement ever again. No one will ever trust him to serve and protect the public and any police department that hires him will face potential liability if there are any future acts of violence by him.