By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
Judge Courrier denied a written motion by Attorney Brent Easton, on behalf of Robert Tennant, during a June 4th hearing. The motion by Easton sought to exclude a confession made by Tennant at the Sheriff’s office after his arrest for the shooting death of his brother.
Attorney Easton argued during the hearing that the statement should be excluded due to a delay in processing Tennant following his arrest. Easton argued that the delay stemmed from a desire by the arresting officers to obtain a confession prior to going before a Magistrate Judge for an arraignment on the charges.
Tucker County Prosecuting Attorney Savannah Hull Wilkins said she was opposed to the motion. Wilkins further attested that the delay was necessary to not only obtain and perform a gunpowder residue test, but to complete the necessary paperwork to bring Tennant before a Magistrate for arraignment. “We are asking that the court finds what the evidence presents,” Wilkins said. “And uphold the prior ruling and find that there was no violation.”
Tucker County Sheriff Deputy Brent Gidley testified during the hearing that the delay occurred due to the need for the procurement and execution of the test, as well as to complete the paperwork to bring Tennant before the Magistrate Court for arraignment. According to Gidley’s testimony, he was one of the responding officers to the scene and was the officer that transported Tennant from the scene.
Gidley said that following the arrest of Tennant, he drove directly to the State Patrol office just outside Parsons with Tennant in order to procure the gunshot residue kit. Gidley said that the Sheriff’s office did not have any testing kits available, so he had to procure the kit from the State Patrol.
Following the stop at the State Patrol Office, Gidley said he took Tennant to the Tucker County Sheriff’s Department. It was at the Sheriff’s Department, according to Gidley, that Tennant agreed to give a statement. Tennant made the statement, according to Gidley, to himself, Lt. Teter and another Deputy.
It was before, during and after the statement, that Gidley said he was working on completion of the criminal complaint that was needed to take Tennant before a Magistrate Judge for arraignment. According to Gidley’s testimony, the paperwork took far longer than Tennant took to give his statement.
Easton argued to the court that there was no urgent need to complete the gunshot residue kit. Easton said that it was not unreasonable that the kit could have been completed following Tennant being brought before a Magistrate. Gidley testified during redirect questioning by Wilkins, that gunshot residue is time sensitive and due to the powdery nature of the substance, can be transferred or rubbed off.
Gidley responded to Easton’s questioning that he and his department wanted to continue the investigation and complete the preliminary investigation in a timely manner in order to not only complete the criminal complaint, but have as many facts as possible when Tennant was brought before the Magistrate. “We wanted to continue to investigate and get it done promptly,” Gidley said. “We wanted to get everything confirmed.”
Easton also argued that because it was a weekday and the incident occurred during the afternoon, that a Magistrate was readily available and Tennant should have been taken to the Court upon his arrival at the Sheriff’s Office. Easton said that the Magistrate served as a third party to explain a defendant’s rights and stated that Tennant had been questioned prior to his appearance before the Magistrate. Easton further argued that the reason for the delay served solely to obtain a confession. “The statement is therefore considered to be involuntary,” Easton said. “We therefore asked for suppression.”
Judge Courrier denied the motion by the Defense and said that Officer Gidley was able to provide evidence that supported the need for the delay, as well as the time sensitive need for being at the Sheriff’s Department for more reasons than only taking a statement. Judge Courrier further said that the evidence of the need for the gunshot residue test, as well as the drafting of the criminal complaint in the case was necessary to be completed prior to Tennant being taken before a Magistrate. “The delay in stopping at the Sheriff’s Department was warranted,” Courrier said.
Tennant is charged with the First Degree Murder of his brother following a shooting over a property line dispute. Tennant is scheduled to go to trial on the matter in October.