By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
Robert Lee Tennant has been convicted October 24th of the first degree murder of his brother Edward Tennant, Jr. After two days of testimony and evidence, the jury deliberated for approximately a half hour before returning a verdict of guilty on the charge and issuing a recommendation of no mercy in the case.
In opening statements, Tucker County Prosecuting Attorney Savannah Hull Wilkins outlined the events of April 10, 2023 that lead to the arrest and charges. According to Wilkins, Ed Tennant was checking an electrical pole on a disputed property across the road from Robert Tennant’s property. Robert Tennant drove his tractor to confront his brother at which time he shot him three times in the head with a .22 calibre target pistol. Tennant then returned to the house to call 911. Wilkins went on to say that Tennant denied being threatended by his brother and had planned the act for two days. Wilkins said Tennant even called prison his retirement plan. Wilkins asked the jury to maintain attention regardless to how hard the subject matter may become. “Please don’t shut down or look away because its hard,” Wilkins said.
In the defense’s opening remarks, Attorney Brent Easton admitted that there was no question that his client shot his brother. The defense’s opening statements focused on trying to convince the jury to consider lesser charges for their client with the focus on the lesser included charge of voluntary manslaughter. Easton brought up a series of disputes over the years the brothers had been embroiled in going back to an alleged incestuous child that was born when they were children. According to Easton. Tennant believed his brother fathered a child with with their sister when she was 14 and tried to blame it on him. “This is not a who done it case. The person who did it admitted to it. He admitted to it on a 911 call.”
The first prosecution witness to be called was 911 Director Daniel Hebb. Hebb testified on the validity and authenticity of the 911 recording that was presented into evidence. According to Hebb, the call came in to the center at 12:44 p.m. In the recording, Tennant is heard to say “I did,” when asked who fired the shots and identified the victim as his brother Edward Tennant, Jr.
This was followed by the testimony of Deputy Gidley of the Tucker County Sheriff’s Office for the prosecution. Gidley was the first officer on the scene. According to Gidley’s testimony, he arrived approximately 15 to 20 minutes from the time the call went out. When he arrived, he said he saw a blue Ford pickup with the driver’s door open, a pool of blood underneath and a human figure laying in front of it. Gidley said Tennant was at home and obeyed all commands to put his hands up and come across the river to be placed into custody. Tennant was placed into Sgt. Pyles of the State Police’s cruiser following, acccording to Gidley. A gunshot residue kid was conducted as well, Gidley said.
It was also during Gidley’s testimony that Tennant’s statement was entered into evidence and played for the court. In his statement, Tennant is heard admitting to planning the act for the two days prior. “I’ve been plotting this since Saturday,” Tennant said.
In the statement, Tennant also said he would have called 911 before he confronted his brother, but he was afraid he would, “ get away.” He also said in the statement that he wished he had shot his brother’s dog as well. Tennant said he fully understood the consequences of this actions. “I fully understand what is going on,” Tennant said. “That’s the choice I made.”
In regards to why he shot his brother, he said he did it because he was an a—h— and that, “I learned over the years, take care of your own business.”
During Gidley’s testimony, it was stated that a handgun was discovered in the center console of Ed Tennant’s truck buried under several items. It was also stated that the console was closed at the time of arrival and a photo of the interior of the console was shown to the court showing the disheveled state of the console and the items obscuring the handgun.
The next witness for the prosecution was Sgt. Pyles with the West Virginia State Police. Pyles was the second officer on the scene. The majority of Pyle’s testimony collaborated Gidley’s with Pyles arriving to assist in directing people and assisting at the scene.
Charleston Medical Examiner Dr. Daniel Shapiro appeared next via Teams to testify for the prosecution. Dr. Shapiro testified as to the manner and mode of the death. According to Shapiro there were three distinct shots: one distant shot to the back of the head that alone would not have been fatal; one distant shot to the forehead that would have resulted in substantial hemorrhaging and was fatal; and one hard contact to just below the nose that was indicative of muzzle contact with the skin.
The final prosecution witness was West Virginia State Police Forensic Lab Firearms Toolmark Examiner Philip Kent Cochran. Cochran testified that one of the casings recovered at the scene was fired from the weapon and one of the recovered bullets shared characteristics. However, Cochran said that two of the bullets were damaged due to being fired and were inconclusive.
On day two of testimony, the only defense’s only witness was Tennant himself. Tennant took the stand in his defense. During his testimony, Tennant reiterated the story of his sister’s incestuous pregnancy and how his brother tried to place the blame on him for years. Tennant then told the history of the disputed lot and the work he put into it.
Tennant’s testimony then shifted to the weekend of the shooting. According to Tennant, his brother had been cutting down trees on the lot that Saturday. Tennant said he was so stressed he had not slept since. “He’s just being smart with me,” Tennant said. “He’s just showing he’s bigger than me. That he’s my big brother.”
According to Tennan’s testimony he had only planned to confront his brother to ask him what he was doing and had no intention to kill him. “I decided I was going to confront him uno to uno,” Tennant said. “I was going to ask him what he was doing with this lot.”
Tennant said he never left the tractor and was never more than six foot from his brother at any time during the incident. Tennant also said his brother saw him coming. Tennant also said that he felt he was in danger because he had a machete under buckets of cement in the bucket of the tractor that his brother could have reached and thought his brother was going to reach for it, that is why he shot. Tennant denied placing the gun to his brother’s head to pull the trigger.
It came out in court that the property under dispute by the brothers was deeded and owned by their father Edward Tennant, Sr.
