JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Judge London Kite interrupted proceedings in the Mario Fernandez murder trial at 9:30 a.m. Friday after Kirsten Bridegan failed to turn her cellphone over to the court as ordered.
Bridegan was told to turn over her phone to the court at 9 a.m. Friday so it could be reviewed and specific information could be turned over to Shanna Gardner’s defense team.
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Gardner and Fernandez are both charged in the February 2022 ambush killing of Kirsten Bridegan’s late husband, Jared.
Kite’s order about Kirsten Bridegan’s phone followed a heated dispute over a motion from Gardner’s defense team seeking private messages and other material from Bridegan’s phone and social media accounts. They say the material could have evidentiary value in Gardner’s defense.
After Kite’s order, Kirsten Bridegan’s attorneys filed an emergency motion for a stay, and Gardner’s attorneys responded.
Kite denied the stay motion at 8:30 a.m. Friday, upholding her order for Bridegan to turn her phone over by the 9 a.m. deadline.
Despite Kite’s order, the phone was not turned over to the court, and a noticeably frustrated Kite stopped the Fernandez trial in the middle of testimony at 9:30 a.m. to hold an emergency hearing on the issue.
Gardner’s attorneys are asking for Bridegan to be held in contempt of court for refusing to comply with the order, and Kite agreed to hold a hearing at 12:30 p.m. Friday to allow Bridegan’s attorneys time to respond.
If Bridegan is held in contempt, she could be arrested on the spot.
Bridegan’s attorneys previously argued the request from Gardner’s attorneys was an overly broad “fishing expedition” and an improper attempt to examine the phone of the widow of a murder victim.
They said a reliable forensic extraction would require imaging the entire phone, potentially exposing private information unrelated to the case.
But Kite has already said in court that she believes imaging the entire phone is a violation of Bridegan’s privacy rights, which is why she narrowed the scope of what could be retrieved from her accounts.
The parties also disagreed over the vendor who would conduct the forensic examination. Bridegan’s attorneys objected to the first defense-selected vendor, arguing that the vendor appeared to be part of Gardner’s legal team and had made misleading statements about its independence.
Gardner’s attorneys on Thursday offered a different third-party vendor option to the court, not connected to the defense team, that they said will be able to extract only the more narrow information the court has allowed. Previous vendors had said that would not be possible.
Before Kite’s order, Kirsten Bridegan’s attorneys also argued that she is entitled to heightened protection under Florida’s victims’ rights law, commonly known as Marsy’s Law. They said the law protects her from harassment, intimidation and disclosure of information that could reveal confidential details or be used to locate or harass her or her family.
The attorneys asked Kite to reconsider her earlier order requiring Bridegan to provide phone data.
Alternatively, they asked to learn the specific reasons the defense considers the requested information material so they could properly challenge the intrusion into Bridegan’s privacy. Kite overruled their objection, saying Bridegan has no right to know defense strategy.
Kite said she previously reviewed a sealed submission from Gardner’s attorneys and determined that some of the requested information had evidentiary value.
Her order limits the scope of the material that may be shared and requires the court to review the communications first. Only substantive information is to be provided to the defense.
Gardner is slated to begin jury selection for her September trial after the Fernandez trial has ended.