JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A pre-trial hearing for Shanna Gardner and Mario Fernandez took an unexpected turn this week when Judge London Kite learned attorneys were proposing a new plan for how the high-profile murder-for-hire trials will be scheduled and how juries will be managed.
March 31 appearance for Fernandez
Fernandez and Gardner are scheduled for trial in August in the 2022 killing of Jared Bridegan, a father of four who was gunned down while driving home with his toddler daughter.
Co-defendant Gardner waived her appearance for the hearing, leaving Fernandez as the only defendant in court. Fernandez’s attorneys said the state had suggested a change to the trial schedule, prompting discussion about how the cases and jury selection would be handled.
“It seems to have been shifted. My understanding is that the state and Gardner’s attorney would like to try our the case first, so we would go to jury selection, then our trial, and then Mrs. Gardner’s case would go next. They no longer want to try these cases together,” Fernandez’s attorney said.
The revelation prompted Judge Kite to ask why she hadn’t been informed of the proposed schedule change. The state argued that using one jury panel for both trials could save time, but the judge expressed concern that sending Gardner’s jury home while Fernandez’s trial proceeds could expose jurors to outside information, increasing the risk of a mistrial. Gardner’s attorney said separate trials make sense, but emphasized that timing is critical.
“Our thing is we are in agreement on separate trials. However, picking the jurors at the same time and having the Gardner jury wait could create a slew of issues. We would like to go right after the Fernandez trial,” Gardner’s attorney said.
Attorneys also said that dispositions are taking longer than expected, particularly since former state witness Henry Tenon is now a co-defendant. Fernandez’s team argued this shift has slowed the process, while the state said more time is simply needed for review.
All parties are expected back in court on April 9, where a motion or agreement on how to proceed is anticipated.
Fernandez, who has been held in the Duval County Jail since his March 2023 arrest, was previously denied bond. His attorneys argued the circumstances of his case have changed, citing the recent withdrawal of accused gunman Henry Tenon’s guilty plea. Tenon now says he will not testify against either Fernandez or Gardner. Judge London Kite again rejected Fernandez’s request for bond.
The court granted Gardner’s attorneys access to inmate communications, including phone calls, mail, and tablet data, to aid in trial preparation. Fernandez has filed a similar request, which remains pending.
Prosecutors maintain that the evidence still links Fernandez to the murder-for-hire plot that ended with the ambush shooting of Bridegan, a father of four who was shot while driving home with his toddler daughter in the backseat.
Fernandez’s attorneys noted he never tried to flee the investigation and is willing to surrender his passport if released. Both defendants continue to plead not guilty as their cases move toward trial.
Bridegan’s ex-wife, Gardner, and Fernandez, her now estranged husband, are both under indictment for first-degree murder and other charges in the February 2022 ambush shooting. They have each pleaded not guilty.
Fernandez’s attorneys said his case has changed, and an opportunity to be released on bond needs to reflect the new circumstances, but Judge London Kite denied it.
Just days after the man accused of pulling the trigger was allowed to withdraw his guilty plea -- saying he no longer intends to testify against Fernandez and Gardner -- Fernandez’s attorneys outlined their request for the judge to consider releasing Fernandez on bond.
That accused gunman, Tenon, was paid, according to prosecutors, by Fernandez, his former landlord, to kill Bridegan.
But Fernandez’s attorneys argued his arrest in the case is based on what Tenon originally told investigators, which he is now calling into question.
They also point out in their motion that although Fernandez was a person of interest in Bridegan’s murder, he didn’t try to run from the investigation. And, they said, he’s willing to turn over his passport if he’s released.
The State Attorney’s office released a batch of evidence in the case, which included two interview clips with a woman who was friends with Shanna.
She told investigators a year after Bridegan’s murder that she didn’t think Fernandez would be involved in a “hitman” situation.
Since he’s been in jail, Fernandez’s finances have “become limited,” his attorneys say, and if bond is approved, it would be paid by his siblings.
Timeline: How we got here
A little over four years ago, Jared Bridegan dropped his then-9-year-old twin children off at the home of his ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, after a “date night” with their dad.
He left Gardner’s Jacksonville Beach home on Feb. 16, 2022, with his 2-year-old daughter, Bexley, strapped in her car seat in the back of his dark-colored SUV. They were headed back to St. Augustine.
But the 33-year-old Microsoft executive never made it home.
Following his normal route through the Sanctuary neighborhood, Bridegan suddenly had to stop in the area of Jacksonville Drive, America Avenue and Sanctuary Boulevard.
A tire was in the road.
When Bridegan stepped out of his SUV, he was ambushed by gunfire. At least one bullet missed Bexley by mere inches in her car seat.
RELATED | Murder-for-hire plot included practice run along Jared Bridegan’s normal route home: prosecutors
Bridegan was left lying in the street next to the SUV with the door wide open, and the shooter seemed to melt into the shadows just as quickly as he had launched his ambush attack.
None of the 911 callers that night mentioned seeing a shooter or a vehicle leaving the scene.
LISTEN: Press play below to hear 911 calls from night of Jared Bridegan’s murder (WARNING: May include graphic content)
But eventually, detectives tracked down the man they say pulled the trigger.
Investigators say that it was all part of a murder-for-hire plot set in motion by Gardner and her new husband, Mario Fernandez. It was a conspiracy that began in November of 2021, according to court documents.
Interactive Timeline
Alleged murder-for-hire scheme
According to detectives, Gardner was tired of sharing custody of her twin children with Bridegan.
Fernandez, she knew, could “take care of him” because of his military background, Gardner told a friend. At least that’s what the friend told investigators as she detailed the strained marriage between Gardner and Fernandez and the contentious ongoing custody battle between Gardner and Bridegan.
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Investigators say that’s exactly what Fernandez did, hiring Henry Tenon, a tenant at one of his properties, to kill Bridegan.
In his initial interview with police in July 2022, Tenon told investigators that he had been renting a home from Fernandez in Jacksonville’s Biltmore neighborhood for several years.
Tenon’s original court records said he became involved in the conspiracy on Jan. 4, 2022 -- just over a month before Bridegan was killed.
Investigators said when Tenon was arrested on an unrelated felony driving charge in August 2022, they questioned him about Bridegan’s murder and a Ford F-150 truck they had been searching for since the shooting.
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Tenon was later arrested in Bridegan’s murder, and investigators said the single link between Tenon and Bridegan was Fernandez.
In 2023, Tenon pleaded guilty and admitted to being the gunman who killed Bridegan, but he has since backtracked, and a judge granted his motion to withdraw his guilty plea.
He said he will no longer testify against Gardner or Fernandez, who are both under indictment for first-degree murder.
Gardner and Fernandez have both pleaded not guilty. State prosecutors initially said they would be seeking the death penalty against both if they were convicted, but they have since taken the death penalty off the table, with the support of Bridegan’s widow, Kirsten, and his family.