{"id":540452,"date":"2026-03-23T13:03:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T13:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/540452\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T13:03:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T13:03:08","slug":"accused-gunman-in-jared-bridegan-case-appears-in-court-for-1st-time-since-changing-plea-to-not-guilty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/540452\/","title":{"rendered":"Accused gunman in Jared Bridegan case appears in court for 1st time since changing plea to not guilty"},"content":{"rendered":"

DUVAL COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Henry Tenon, the accused gunman in the Jared Bridegan murder\u2011for\u2011hire case<\/a>, will appear in court for a pre-trial hearing on Monday, his first since withdrawing his 2023 guilty plea.<\/p>\n

Tenon\u2019s attorneys have filed a motion to suppress statements he made to prosecutors during plea negotiations, now that he has recanted and changed his plea to not guilty.<\/p>\n

Tenon initially pleaded guilty on March 16, 2023, to second\u2011degree murder with a weapon under a deal that required him to testify against alleged co\u2011conspirators — Bridegan\u2019s ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, and her now estranged husband, Mario Fernandez. The plea deal carried a sentencing range beginning at 15 years. <\/p>\n

Investigators allege Tenon ambushed and killed the 33\u2011year\u2011old father of four in February 2022 as part of a murder\u2011for\u2011hire plot. They say Fernandez paid Tenon about $10,000. <\/p>\n

Tenon initially confessed to being the gunman, according to prosecutors, but later recanted that testimony in January 2025 and sought new counsel.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 17, 2026, Judge London Kite allowed Tenon to withdraw his plea; prosecutors did not oppose the motion. <\/p>\n

Tenon has since been indicted on first\u2011degree murder, child abuse and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. <\/p>\n

The child abuse charge is because investigators say Bridegan\u2019s toddler was in the vehicle but unharmed during the shooting. <\/p>\n

The defense filed a motion last Thursday seeking to suppress a sworn March 15, 2023, interview at the State Attorney\u2019s Office, arguing the statements were made during active plea negotiations and are inadmissible under Florida law.<\/p>\n

Gardner and Fernandez are under indictment for first-degree murder and other charges, with jury selection scheduled for Aug. 10.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUVAL COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Henry Tenon, the accused gunman in the Jared Bridegan murder\u2011for\u2011hire case, will appear in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,12471,451,241942,241943,241945,3,241944,452,453],"class_list":{"0":"post-540452","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-duval-county","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-henry-tenon","13":"tag-jared-bridegan","14":"tag-mario-fernandez","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-shanna-gardner","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}