What can triggerman be sentenced to after pleading guilty in Jared Bridegan killing?

By agreeing to plead guilty to Jared Bridegan's ambush shooting death in Jacksonville Beach, 62-year-old Henry Arthur Tenon will be sentenced to at least 15 years in prison, according to the newly released plea agreement.

In accepting the March 16 guilty plea for second-degree murder with a weapon, the "state waives the sentencing guidelines, defendant agrees to testify truthfully against any co-defendants, state will drop counts 2, 3 and 4 at the time of the sentencing," the agreement reads.

Those counts were for charges of conspiracy to commit murder, accessory after the fact to a capital felony and child abuse.

"Both parties acknowledge that the sentencing court will give weight to the defendant's life expectancy, his early and continuing cooperation in the prosecution of co-defendants and will hear all parties, including members of the victim's family in considering the appropriate sentence," the agreement reads.

A second-degree murder conviction can be punishable up to life in prison.

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Tenon also will receive credit for time served since his Aug. 18 arrest on charges of possession of a weapon by a felon and driving with a suspended or revoked license on a third or subsequent conviction. That arrest report stated he had a shotgun in the trunk during a traffic stop. The Bridegan charges were added on Jan. 25 while he was still in jail awaiting trial.

State Attorney Melissa Nelson said Tenon confirmed he was the triggerman in the Feb. 16 attack on Bridegan, who had dropped off his twin children to his ex-wife whom he shared custody with. The 33-year-old Microsoft executive was taking his usual route back to St. Augustine where he lived when he got out to move a tire from the road and was shot at close range.

Police early on said they believe he was targeted and that the tire was intentionally placed there on the dark isolated road. Nothing appeared to have been stolen, and his 2-year-old daughter was still in his car unharmed.

Tenon has nine arrests in Jacksonville on minor offenses and a couple in Georgia, court records show.

His guilty plea came the same day authorities announced the arrest of Mario Fernandez Saldana, the 34-year-old husband of Bridegan's ex-wife, Shanna Gardner-Fernandez. Tenon had rented a home from Fernandez Saldana in Jacksonville, Nelson said. He is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit a capital felony and child abuse.

Gardner-Fernandez has not been publicly labeled a suspect by the State Attorney's Office or Jacksonville Beach police, who also have not released information on what she has said or whether she has cooperated. She has not made a statement since her husband's arrest but previously told media she was not involved. She had moved to the state of Washington while Fernandez Saldana was staying in Orlando where he was arrested.

Nelson said they knew Tenon didn't act alone and although she didn't specify if other arrests are pending, she reiterated the case is not over.

An arrest warrant states that Tenon’s financial records from his bank showed three handwritten checks from Fernandez Saldana in October 2022. Phone records also showed Tenon and Fernandez Saldana had communicated 35 times that February, 30 in March and five to nine in May and June.

Authorities have not discussed motive, but the arrest warrant states "the investigation into Bridegan’s background revealed a highly acrimonious divorce from his ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, and a contentious relationship with both Gardner and Fernandez Saldana."

Gardner and Bridegan were married in 2010 and divorced in 2015. Both remarried.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Details revealed in Henry Tenon plea agreement in Jared Bridegan death