Patchita Tennant is on leave from her job as a manager at the CVS pharmacy on Pantigo Road, East Hampton, following her arrest on charges of shooting her boyfriend in their Flanders home earlier this month and then fleeing with their 3-year-old daughter, who was later found safe. She has since claimed he pulled the gun on her following years of abuse.
CVS customers who have known Ms. Tennant during her 15-year tenure there have been visiting the store in the hope of seeing her to express support. One woman told The Star she had trouble tracking down contact information for Ms. Tennant’s attorney, Austin Manghan. On Tuesday, she said, when she finally succeeded, she asked the question that has been on many people’s mind: What can I do to help her?
Mr. Manghan said he has heard over and over again how professional, kind, and loving his client is. “All these things that they know about her. Then they hear these allegations, and they don’t know how to process it. It doesn’t make sense based on the woman they know.”
He asked the woman who called him to write a character reference letter, and said anyone wishing to do the same can email him at [email protected].
“What I want to do is have a better picture of who this woman is, not from my client, but from a third party,” the lawyer said, adding that he hopes to provide affidavits or character references to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office, “so they can get a better sense of who they are prosecuting.” . . . “This is my attempt to tell the story and to make sure this woman isn’t punished again for being abused.”
Ms. Tennant, 42, is free on $500,000 bond, posted by family and friends who came together in the days after the shooting to ensure she was out of jail. The D.A.’s office has not yet indicted her, and Mr. Manghan is using the time to build a defense. He said he was looking for a psychologist and other experts who understand long-term domestic abuse.
Her family and friends have started a GoFundMe.com page to raise money for Ms. Tennant, who is described as “a victim of domestic violence for over 10 years fighting the legal battle of her life.” It has raised over $3,000 since it began on Sept. 22; the goal is $40,000.
Mr. Manghan said his client needs money to live, but also commented that expert testimony comes with a price.
Ms. Tennant has been given a leave from CVS. She has not been fired — another sign, her attorney said, of how highly she is regarded there.
The situation has been “emotionally taxing,” he said. In addition to the criminal case, Ms. Tennant is dealing with Family Court. The man she allegedly shot, Andrew Mitchell, 46, who worked for an East Hampton construction company before going out on his own, has been released from the hospital and has been awarded custody of their daughter, Vannessa. (Ms. Tennant’s sister had been given temporary custody after the shooting).
Prosecutors filed a neglect petition based on allegations surrounding the shooting. “The child was never in danger,” Mr. Manghan said. “The child was not at the scene while the shooting took place. The child was with relatives before my client and her boyfriend confronted each other in the house.”
Ms. Tennant asked for supervised visitation, which was granted during her most recent court appearance, her third. The judge ordered that visitation be conducted through the Department of Social Services, at its facility. She spent some time with her daughter last weekend.
“In some ways, this [the Family Court matter] is even more stressful,” Mr. Manghan said.
