JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Duval County judge on Monday morning denied the motion of Mario Fernandez and Shanna Gardner to disqualify the State Attorney’s Office from prosecuting them in the Jarred Bridegan murder case.
Gardner and Fernandez are charged with conspiracy to commit murder in Bridegan’s death. Bridegan was ambushed, shot, and killed just moments after he dropped off the twins he shared with Gardner in early 2022.
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The admitted gunman, Henry Tenon, was arrested and charged a year later.
Later on, Bridegan’s ex-wife, Gardner, and her new husband, Fernandez, were arrested and charged. They face the death penalty if convicted.
Judge London Kite also denied a motion in the alternative to dismiss the indictment against Gardner. But the judge did throw out the contested communications after finding that law enforcement did inadvertently review some that were protected under attorney/client privilege.
Attorneys for both Gardner and Fernandez said Melissa Nelson’s office should be booted from the case after privileged communications, including emails and text messages, were incorrectly shared with the prosecution. They argued that this was a violation of Gardner and Fernandez’ constitutional rights.
The judge was supposed to hand down her ruling earlier this month, but it was delayed once again after defense attorneys filed more motions and asked to examine the lead prosecutor, Christina Stifler.
The State Attorney’s Office has admitted it intercepted private communications through a search warrant, but the prosecutors said they never read them. So, they argue the couple’s attorney-client privilege was not violated.
But the defense said it doesn’t erase any cloud of suspicion.
“Overall, what this court has heard over the days of these evidentiary hearings, is that the state engaged, and by state, I mean their team including the ATF and the Jacksonville Beach Police Department, engaged in reckless and grossly negligent conduct. And there is a clear appearance of impropriety that warrants a remedy,” the defense attorney said.
Assistant State Attorney, Alan Mizrahi, fired back, saying the defense’s calls to remove the state attorney’s office put an undue burden on citizens.
“People, the citizens of this jurisdiction have elected Melissa Nelson to be their state attorney to prosecute these cases. Removing her is obviously the court has the power to do it, but has to be very cautious. In the judicial branch affecting the executive branch and the legislative branch,” Mizrahi said. ”Ms. Stifler has worked thousands of hours on this case. No one could ever replace the amount of work that she has put into this case.”
Judge Kite was pointed in her criticism of the State Attorney’s Office. While she said what the SAO did “was not necessarily misconduct,” she found it “naievely” proceeded with a “hyper-technical approach” to the pretrial agreement regarding attorney/client privilege.
The judge said the lead prosecutor made “poor judgment decisions…that brought us here.” Judge Kite said she was “very solid” in her decision to throw out the contested communications and she said she would be very involved in ongoing case management of the discovery material, “to make sure there will be no further errors in exposing attorney/client privilege.”
With the critical ruling handed down, the case will now move forward. Next up is a bond hearing Wednesday for Gardner.