JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – During one of the last hearings before jury selection begins in the trial of Mario Fernandez, Judge London Kite indicated that the defense had discussed a possible plea deal with prosecutors.
Fernandez will be the first of three defendants to be tried for the death of Jared Bridegan in what prosecutors describe as a murder-for-hire case.
He is accused, along with his now-estranged wife, Shanna Gardner, of hiring Henry Tenon, a former tenant of Fernandez, to fatally shoot Bridegan, a 33-year-old father of four, in February 2022 in Jacksonville Beach.
Bridegan was Gardner’s ex-husband, and they were in ongoing custody disputes over their twin children.
Gardner, Fernandez and Tenon are all under indictment for first-degree murder and other charges and have each pleaded not guilty.
But Kite brought up during Monday’s hearing that Fernandez at one point might have considered changing that plea. She said prosecutors told her that “there was one offer made” to resolve the case.
She did not indicate when in the last three years since his arrest that offer had been discussed. The exchange with Fernandez and his attorneys turned tense when Kite brought up the potential plea deal.
Attorney Jesse Dreicer was noticeably frustrated in his response to Kite.
Kite: Did the defense make an offer or not?
Dreicer: I would not consider it — it was not formal; it wasn’t in writing. It was more of a discussion, and we certainly do not want to discuss it in open court.
Kite continued, asking Fernandez whether he understood that whatever might have been discussed was rejected by the state.
Kite: From the state’s perspective, they thought that there may be some avenue for resolving this case, short of trial. Let me put it like that. And they’ve rejected whatever the discussion was. That they are not interested in it. OK? Is that pretty much your understanding?
Fernandez: Yes, your honor.
Kite said no mention of a plea deal discussion will be allowed during the trial.
“If there was any negotiations, that will never come in during the course of the trial because you have preserved your presumption of innocence by exercising your right (to plead not guilty and go to trial),” Kite said.
2 charges dropped
During that same hearing on Monday, prosecutors announced that two of the four charges against Fernandez had been dropped.
He will now be tried only on first-degree murder and solicitation to commit a capital felony. Fernandez had been indicted on conspiracy to commit murder and child abuse charges, also, but prosecutors have abandoned those charges.
After initially planning to try Gardner and Fernandez at the same time, defense attorneys and state prosecutors have since agreed that they should face separate trials, with two separate jury selection periods.
Fernandez will go on trial first, with jury selection slated for Aug. 10-14, and his trial scheduled for Aug. 17-28.
Gardner will go on trial after Fernandez, with jury selection from Aug. 31-Sept. 4, and the trial from Sept. 8-25.
Tenon will go on trial in March.
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 and go to trial.
Timeline: How we got here
More than 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 employee 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 second 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.
RELATED: A friend of Shanna Gardner said she could help in Jared Bridegan’s murder case. Here’s what she told investigators | How investigators say they untangled conspiracy to kill Jared Bridegan
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.
RELATED | Follow the money: Checks written to Jared Bridegan’s admitted killer connect him to 2 accused in ‘murder-for-hire plot’ | Jared Bridegan’s wife files wrongful death lawsuit against 3 accused in his murder
Tenon was later arrested in Bridegan’s murder, and investigators said the single link between Tenon and Bridegan was Fernandez.
Again, Tenon initially pleaded guilty, but has since withdrawn his guilty plea.
He is now under indictment for some of the same charges as Gardner and Fernandez.
Gardner is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit a capital felony and child abuse.
Tenon is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, child abuse, possession of a firearm by a felon and accessory after the fact.
State prosecutors initially said they would be seeking the death penalty against Gardner and Fernandez 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.