JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Attorneys engaged in another heated courtroom debate on Wednesday morning over a motion from Shanna Gardner’s defense team to get material from the phone of Jared Bridegan’s widow.
Kristen Bridegan was ordered to produce certain material from her cellphone and social media accounts, and Gardner’s attorneys told the court Wednesday that she still has not produced it.
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Gardner is the ex-wife of Bridegan’s late husband, Jared, who was killed in an ambush shooting in February 2022.
Gardner is one of three defendants charged with Jared Bridegan’s murder, and her attorneys want access to private messages Kirsten sent via Instagram and other apps.
Kirsten’s attorney is arguing that the defense request is a “fishing expedition,” but Gardner’s team claims she is just delaying what the court has already agreed to.
Judge London Kite already held a private hearing about Gardner’s motion for information from Kirsten Bridegan’s phone and determined there was evidentiary value in giving some of the information to Gardner’s team.
Kite said she tried to narrow the scope of what would be provided to the defense. Her order limits what can be shared from Kirsten Bridegan’s phone, saying the communications will be reviewed by the court and only what is “substantive” will be shared with the defense.
But Kirsten’s attorney is refusing to allow the vendor hired by the defense to perform the forensic analysis of her phone and is asking the court to come up with a different third-party vendor not connected to the defense team.
Judge Kite agreed to allow Kirsten’s attorney to find a different vendor who can extract the data that will be reviewed and given to the defense.