JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The man accused of pulling the trigger in what investigators call a murder-for-hire plot to kill a St. Johns County father of four could learn Tuesday if a judge will block statements he made during plea negotiations from being read to jurors.
Henry Tenon initially pleaded guilty on March 16, 2023, to second‑degree murder with a weapon in the shooting death of 33-year-old Microsoft employee Jared Bridegan.
The plea was made as part of a deal that required Tenon to testify against his alleged co‑conspirators -- Bridegan’s ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, and her now estranged husband, Mario Fernandez.
RELATED: Timeline of the Jared Bridegan murder-for-hire case
Fernandez and Gardner are also charged with the killing of Bridegan, who was gunned down in an ambush while driving home with his toddler daughter. They have pleaded not guilty.
Tenon’s plea deal carried a sentencing range beginning at 15 years, but he has since withdrawn his guilty plea, recanting the statements he made to the State Attorney’s Office on March 15, 2023, during the negotiations.
Tenon’s attorneys have filed a motion to have those statements suppressed so that jurors will not hear them in court during Tenon’s first-degree murder trial.
Tenon’s defense said that Tenon believed those conversations were protected as part of plea negotiations and said no one warned him that those statements could be used against him later if he backed out of the deal.
Tenon took the stand during a hearing earlier this month and answered questions from his attorney and the state.
Attorney: “Were you at any time told that anything you said could be used against you?”
Tenon: “No.”
Attorney: “Did you believe you were speaking to them for a plea agreement?”
Tenon: “Yes.”
State: “You did not enter into a plea that said you were going testify, knowing you were never going to testify.”
Tenon: “I did.”
State: You did?
Tenon: “Yeah.”
State: “So you lied under oath about that you were going to testify truthfully?”
Tenon: “No...because my understanding is I can change my plea at any time before sentencing.”
Prosecutors continued to push back, arguing that the plea agreement had already been finalized by that point and that Tenon understood he was becoming a witness in the case.
Judge London Kite said at the previous hearing that she would take the motion under advisement and would issue a decision by the next court date on May 26.
Other motions being considered
Gardner’s defense attorneys are also asking Kite to throw out two court-authorized wiretaps placed on her cellphone, Apple Watch and her sister’s cellphone, arguing that police lacked the legal basis to capture the conversations in the first place.
A Jacksonville Beach Police Department detective submitted a probable cause affidavit in support of the wiretap application. According to the defense, that affidavit was loaded with evidence against others — surveillance footage, location data, financial records and a Google search for a 10 mm pistol by J.B. — but offered very little when it came to Gardner herself.
“The January Affidavit provided scant information against Ms. Gardner,” the motion states, noting it was limited to her relationship with the victim and with Fernandez, an alleged motive tied to a dispute that occurred years earlier, and three checks written to Tenon — checks signed by Fernandez Saldana, not Gardner.
Gardner’s defense argues there was no surveillance footage, no location data, no controlled calls and no incriminating statements tying Gardner to the crime.
Gardner’s attorneys also filed a motion to block testimony from Bridegan’s daughter, Bexley, arguing that she was only 2 years old at the time of the shooting.
Gardner will be in court again on June 1, when she could learn whether the judge will grant her attorneys’ motions. Fernandez will also be in court again on June 1.
Kite previously granted a request to sever their cases, and the estranged couple will be tried separately.