JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Henry Tenon, the man who confessed to shooting and killing St. Johns County father Jared Bridegan in a ‘murder-for-hire ' plot, is hoping to take back his guilty plea.
Action News Jax reported in 2023 when Tenon pleaded guilty to Bridegan’s murder as part of a deal with prosecutors to take a 15-year prison sentence in exchange for his testimony against Shanna Gardner, Bridegan’s ex-wife, and her estranged husband, Mario Fernandez-Saldana, who have been charged with orchestrating Bridegan’s killing.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
On Friday morning, Tenon’s lawyer filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea, effectively putting him at risk of spending life in prison if it is granted. The motion also says that Tenon would no longer end up testifying against Gardner and Fernandez-Saldana.
Chris Carson, a criminal defense attorney who isn’t associated with the case, said even if the judge in the case grants Tenon’s motion to switch his plea, prosecutors will still be able to use everything Tenon told them.
“Just because a witness is not cooperating does not mean you still can’t take that individual’s statements, testimony, forensic evidence, all that,” Carson said, “it does not fundamentally mean that the state is going to not be able to prove the charge.”
The motion filed by Tenon’s lawyer does not list the reason why Tenon decided to switch his plea. Carson said it could be for a number of reasons, including if Tenon became dissatisfied with his legal advice, if his attorney advised him to switch his plea, if Tenon simply changed his mind, or, in a more extreme scenario, if Tenon was given a terminal diagnosis and only had a short time left to live.
“Obviously something has changed from the time the plea was entered until today,” said Carson.
Carson said that Tenon’s lawyer will have to meet what’s called a ‘standard of good cause’ for the judge to allow the guilty plea to be withdrawn. Carson told us ‘good cause’ means that Tenon’s lawyer will have to provide the judge with a good enough reason to allow his guilty plea to be taken back, which Carson said may be easy.
“Good cause can be ‘hey, I thought about it’ or something new that’s come out, or ‘my attorney and I discussed things in a way that makes sense.’ It is a low standard and, because it’s a low standard, that does tend to make it more likely that it will be granted,” Carson said.
Carson believes that, if the judge allows the guilty plea to be taken back, this move could end up changing the timeline of the trial. Right now, the trials of Gardner and Fernandez-Saldana are scheduled to start on August 10th.
Tenon’s hearing on this motion is scheduled for next Tuesday, February 17th. '
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
