Law&Crime Sidebar - Microsoft Exec's Accused Hitman Says Testimony was 'False'

Episode Date: February 10, 2025

Henry Tenon entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder in the death of Jared Bridegan, a Microsoft executive who was gunned down in 2022. Police believe Bridegan’s ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, and her new husband, Mario Fernandez-Saldana, paid Tenon to kill Bridegan. But now Tenon’s plea might be in question. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber has the latest.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Remove your personal information from the web at https://joindeleteme.com/sidebar and use code Sidebar for 20% off! DeleteMe international plans: https://international.joindeleteme.com HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. I told the state that I thought, I suspected that there may be an inmate in the jail who was influencing Mr. Tennon and that it could have been that a co-defendant had gotten to it. That's my suggestion. Do you have information? That's true? No. Was that just speculation of you doing this kind of work for decades? Even was me trying to figure out why my client had surprised me in court. The alleged hitman at the center of what police in Florida are calling a sinister murder-for-hire plot may have just said in open court that his testimony was

false. Now the attorneys for the people accused of hiring him are crying foul, saying the court needs to investigate what exactly this accused hitman meant and whether that has any impact on their client's cases. We are going to dig into the latest court motions and hearings in the killing of Jared Breidigan. Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime, I'm Jesse Weber. Henry Tennant, now 64 years old, allegedly admitted to police that he killed Jared Breitigan, a Florida Microsoft executive, back in 2022. But now, it seems he is trying to say Things didn't happen the way police believe, which has put an entirely unpredictable wrench in this story. Because let's go back to this.

We have 33-year-old father, Jared Bridigan, really sad case, just dropped off his twins that he shared with his ex-wife, Shannon Gardner, at her home in Jacksonville Beach on February 16, 2022. He was on his way home with his daughter from his current marriage in the backseat of the SUV when he comes across a tire in the road. This is according to authorities. So he allegedly gets out to move. the tire and that is when he's gunned down shot multiple times left for dead in the road people driving by spot at him called 911 police paperwork states quote other than the murderer and the victim the only other witness to the murder was bright again's two-year-old daughter who told child protection team investigators that a man came up to the car she heard boom boom boom and then daddy

hit the ground how heartbreaking is that now without context bride against murder appears to be completely random. He wasn't armed. There's no evidence of a struggle. His belongings, like his wristwatch, his wedding, his phone, his money, his wallet, none of that was taken. His truck wasn't stolen. Bridegan's daughter was unharmed. But this brazen murder, maybe not surprisingly, made headlines all over the country. And then Bridegan's current wife, Kirsten, reportedly encouraged police to look into Bridegan's ex, Shanna Gardner, and her new husband, Mario Fernandez, Saldana. This is according to reporting from local affiliate, WJ, So going back to Henry Tenon, according to authorities, he was a tenant in a property owned by Fernandez

Saldana. Now you're starting to see the connection. And investigators believe Fernandez Saldana hired Tenant to commit the murder, allegedly using money from Gardner's trust fund account. And police say Tennant's truck was seen on surveillance video, security video, near the crime scene around when Bridigan was ambushed. They got a warrant for his bank and phone records, discovering that Tenon and Fernandez-Soldana apparently communicated 35 times in February. Authorities also say Fernandez-Seldana wrote three checks to Tenon months after the killing. Tell me a story like this doesn't just scare you about the world, right? And I'll tell you what, we try to partner with sponsors who can maybe offer a little bit of

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So right now you can get 20% off delete me and protect your personal data when you go to join delete me.com slash sidebar. Use promo code sidebar at checkout. So what happens? Officers, they end up pulling tenant over for speeding in August of 2022. Turns out he's a habitual traffic offender, wasn't even supposed to be driving. So police arrest him and they use the ruse of talking him about his DUIs and revoke license to get him into an interrogation room.

And that's when this happens. You do not have to make a statement or say anything. anything you say it can't be used to get you in court. You have the right to talk to a lawyer for advice before you make a statement or before any questions or asked of you and to have the lawyer with you during any questioning. So the detectives show ten and pictures of him driving all over town in different vehicles with pictures snapped by license plate readers and other cameras.

So the car you're driving today, that's, it was a Crown Vic, is that right? Same car you were in the other day when you were involved in the little fender bender. So I read the report on the fender bender, and it looked like, you just made a mistake, kind of said, hey, I got nervous, drove off. I'm guessing. Actually, I don't know what happened. I panicked. I'm like, oh, man, what?

Yeah, I went around the block, stopped. And so nothing. Because you knew the police were going to, right? Yeah. So I just stopped and just chilled out from right there. I thought, I got my sense of body to gather. Just waited. I said, oh, I'm going to jail.

Because you know. They're going to put you at them pound. Because he knew about your license. You shouldn't be driving. So you know that I know the answer to most of these questions are going to ask you. I'm trying to see what kind of man you are. If you're a man of character, then you're going to be straight with me. Okay?

Because I'm willing to work with those kind of people and willing to have a discussion with them about how we move forward. And then the detectives also asked tenant about a trip he took or apparently took to a tire shop. And police reports indicate that a tire matching the one in the road when Bridingham was shot was found at the home that tenant was rented. from Fernandez Saldana. But it seems the tenon tries to deflect. You did something to the truck. You had to get something on it? You remember what it was?

You went somewhere and bought a couple? That should tell you where you were with the truck. Tires? Yeah. I went out to get you a... Value tires, something like that, discount tire? Yeah, yeah. Get a couple tires put on it?

Mm-hmm. What was, what, you get flat or something? No, is it what? Oh, okay. After more than an hour of talking, the detectives start to let on that this is about more than just some traffic violations. All right, Henry, so here's what's up. Today's the most important day of your life, all right? I'm going to shoot you straight.

You got some tough decisions to make, but there's really only one right answer. So we've told you a lot, but we haven't told you everything. And you've been pretty honest with us, and I appreciate that. But there's a lot more to this than what we've told you, what we've let on. So there's other people down here that we're interviewing at the same time about a case. It's way bigger than some traffic charges. Yeah, I don't figure that much out already. I just don't know what.

Okay, well, you're going to. to you're going to know in a second um and these people so this is this is a choice you get to make you're at what they call a crossroads in your life okay there's two paths you can take one goes this way one goes this way one can lead to henry still being henry out living a life potentially one day because we know what henry's all about and he's not somebody that's going around doing violent things doing vicious things to people but somehow henry got caught up something, you got put in the middle of something, and now it's spiraling out of control because these other people involved, because this is your vehicle involved that you're in, are going to

point the finger at you. And they've already started to do that because no one wants to go to prison for the rest of their life. Nobody. Now, parts of the interrogation are redacted or muted, so we don't know everything that Mr. Tennant said, but detectives did indicate they wanted to help them if they could. But guess what we can control? what's next that's what we get to control Henry what's next how am I remembered how do I want to

how do I want to go out of this world a man of character man who did what's right or just some chump because that's what we're being played for right now is chumps we ain't no chumps Henry I know you ain't no chump when I said respect I'm in it I give you the same respect you give me, you've been respectful to me. I haven't raised my voice at you. I mean, you raised your voice to me. We disagreed. We know we're not on the same page, but we both know we can get there. So Tenon was in that interrogation room for reportedly five hours before he asked for an attorney and was taken to jail. And several months later, he was officially charged with murder in the second degree, conspiracy to commit murder, accessory after the fact in child abuse

because Bridegan's young daughter was a witness to her own father's murder. She was there when this happened, this violent crime. With respect to Fernandez-Soldana and Gardner, they face first-degree murder, solicitation, conspiracy, and child abuse charges themselves. Fernandez-Soldana was arrested first, then Gardner was arrested in Washington State because that's apparently where she moved with her children. She was extradited back to Florida. They were both denied bail.

And we told you recently here on Sidebar, despite petitions from Bridegan's parents to gain custody of their grandchildren, that was actually denied, and Gardner's parents were given custodial rights. So going back to Tenon, he entered a plea agreement, pleaded guilty to one charge of murder in the second degree, according to court records. Prosecutors say he agreed to testify against Fernandez-Seldana, and Tenon would be sentenced after his co-defendants go to trial, and according to his plea agreement, he'll spend between 15 years to life in prison as a result of this. Or I should say, will he? Because that might be up in the air right now after some comments that Tenon apparently made at a recent court hearing. So news of a possible about face exploded in the news last week when Gardner and Fernandez

Saldana's defense attorneys got a look at a transcript from a recent court appearance by Henry Tennant. It was a simple status conference where the judge and the attorneys make sure everyone's on the same page and the case is on track. But during that hearing, Tennant wasn't really supposed to speak, but he ended up addressing the court managing to say that the testimony he'd given wasn't true. Now, this is apparently before the judge and Tennant's public defender had to quiet him down. Now, of course, when the defense attorneys for Tennant's co-defendants heard about this, they wanted more details. So they filed the motion with the Duval County Court that reads, quote, on March 15, 2023, Mr. Tenant provided a sworn statement in which he implicated Mr. Fernandez and the crimes for which he's been charged in this case.

As of the filing of this motion, the March 15th, 2023 sworn statement is the only testimony that has been made by Mr. Tenant provided to the defense. On February for 2025, the defense received an email from the state that contained a hyperlink. to additional discovery. Upon downloading the material, defense counsel discovered the transcript of proceeding status hearing for State v. Henry Tenon on January 13th, 2025. As contained in the attached transcript, Mr. Tenon, in no uncertain terms, informed the court that he wanted to bring the court's attention that his prior testimony was, quote, false testimony.

Mr. Tenning goes on to request another attorney. No further action is taken by the court regarding this request by Mr. Tenant. The court addressed Mr. Tenant and told him that his case would be temporarily passed and he could speak with his lawyer in private and the court will then have another conversation with Mr. Tenant. The court asked Mr. Tenant if that would be okay with him and Mr. Tenant responded okay. The defense continues. Inexplicably, Mr. Tenant has never brought back out to the courtroom. He is never able to address the court and his case is passed until January 22nd, 2025. On January 15, 2025, per an email from Judge Kite's judicial assistant, Mr. Tenant's cases passed nearly three. three months to April 14th, 2025, meaning Mr. Tannen will not appear or have an opportunity

to address the court for over three months since the time he informed the court he provided, quote, false testimony. Since the time Mr. Tennon has indicated that he is given false testimony, it has been over three weeks. And other than the transcript of the proceedings, the defense has been provided with no additional information. So let's take a look at that transcript from the court reporter at the quick hearing back in January because it's pretty interesting. So So Alan Chipperfield is Tenon's public defender. And in the transcript, he says, quote, Good morning, Your Honor, Alan Chipperfield for Mr. Tenant.

Your Honor, I think we just need a past date. The court responds, I was just checking in because I hadn't seen Mr. Tenant since last year. I was just making sure everything was okay. Mr. Chippefield responds, I think he's doing okay. The court says, okay. And then Mr. Tenon says, Your Honor, may I say something? So the court responds, talk to Mr. Chippofield first. Tell him what you want to tell me, okay?

And then Mr. Tenon responds, I just want to bring your attention, my testimony, and the court says, no, no, no, no. Mr. Tenant says, false testimony. The court says, hold on. Mr. Chippefield jumps in, says, Mr. Tenant, we need to talk about that. Mr. Tenant says, I need another attorney. The court says, okay, let me pass it temporarily, have a conversation with Mr. Chipperfield, and then I'll have a conversation with you, Mr. Tenant, okay? And Mr. Tenon responds, okay. Now, as the defense said, Tenon doesn't end up coming back into the courtroom that day. And the following day, the court gets an email from his attorney, Mr. Chipperfield, that says, we have resolved the issue raised in court yesterday after a meeting with Mr. Tenant. Both parties request that the case be removed from the January 22nd calendar and set at least 60 days out for a pretrial.

We don't expect there to be any action in the case until the co-defendants take Mr. Tenon's deposition. So if that's true that this issue has been resolved, don't quite know what that conversation was with his attorney. We will not know it's attorney-client privilege, but that's an interesting aboutface and multiple ways. So the defense attorneys for Gardner and Fernanda Saldana, they were understandably miffed by this latest development. I mean, the key witness now doing it about face. And they believe that there should have been communication from the court about Tenin's apparent statement. So they demanded a hearing where one of the attorneys actually questioned Chipperfield about what happened.

Would you agree that you're a meticulous note taker? Do you have notes that reflect these conversations that you've talked about with the state and with the court? Yes. Did you review those notes before you came to court? Yes, and I have them with me. Okay. What, to your recollection, do you recall, other than telling the state that it could not be resolved today

and that you wanted to pass it, what did you say specifically as to any more detail and what is your recollection or notes as to their response or any other commentary they may have made to you? I suggested that we have a meeting and not bring him back into court past the case. I told the state that I thought, I suspected that there may be an inmate in the jail who was influencing Mr. Tenon

and that it could have been that a co-defendant had gotten to it. That's my suggestion. Do you have information? That's true? No. Was that just speculation of you doing this kind of work for decades? It was me trying to figure out why my client had surprised me in court. Because you brought it up.

Do you have any information now that that's, that your client was influenced? No. And at times, things got a little heated in that courtroom because each party, including the judge, appeared insulted at the idea that there could have been some kind of misconduct on their part. The only thing I would suggest, No, I will just make a part of this. Mr. Judgeman. Well.

Thank you. Okay. What is it? Does the State want to respond to this or do you need additional time? We need no additional time to respond, Your Honor. I guess to require if the defense wants the actual email to our investigators bringing Mr. Tenant over to our office, Mr. Chipperfield has already indicated there wasn't meeting in our office. There wasn't meeting in our office.

We had nothing else to disclose as to those paragraphs other than there was. other than there was probably email ordering him from the jail over to our office on the at least the 14th is the next day. And so we would, I mean, obviously it's proper for lawyers to talk to witness this as an entirely proper thing. And normally not something that's discoverable, although based on everything I don't like to say, has no objection to discovering the fact that we did talk to Mr. Tenn and Mr. Chipperfield already testified to it. That's not an issue. There's something else that the state is discovering this time. So the defense is seeking various pieces of information,

including any communication that might indicate what Tenin meant by false testimony and if he could have been influenced by anyone inside or outside of that jail. A court appearance is actually scheduled for Wednesday. We're keeping an eye on that. But for now, Tenin's next status hearing is scheduled for April. Fernandez-Soldana and Gardner are set to go to trial in October of this year. We'll see if that court date sticks. And I should tell you this, they face six.

the death penalty if they're convicted. That's all we have for you. Right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please check us out. Please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.