JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Court TV) — One of the defendants accused of plotting the murder-for-hire of a Microsoft executive scored a win in court as jury selection began in her co-defendant’s trial.
Shanna Gardner waived her right to a speedy trial at a hearing on Dec. 1, 2023. (Court TV)
Shanna Gardner, 39, is charged with plotting the murder of her ex-husband, Microsoft executive Jared Bridegan, who was gunned down after dropping the couple’s kids off at Gardner’s home in 2022. Gardner’s current husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana, faces the same charges and has pleaded not guilty.
While jury selection began on Monday in Fernandez Saldana’s case, Gardner’s attorneys continue to work through evidence ahead of her trial, which is scheduled to begin as soon as her husband’s ends.
After deposing the victim’s widow, Kirsten Bridegan, for a second time, Gardner’s attorneys asked to review the contents of her phone. Gardner’s team argued that Kirsten Bridegan had exchanged thousands of messages with the two juvenile children whom Gardner and Jared Bridegan shared; because those children are listed as witnesses in the upcoming murder trials, Gardner’s defense expressed concern that those messages could show signs of influence and requested to see them.
Judge London Kite conceded that the defense has a right to know whether there has been any attempted witness tampering and ordered an in-camera review of the messages between Kirsten Bridegan and her two stepchildren. While the defense had wanted messages dating back to the time of the victim’s death, Kite said she would only review messages sent from May 2025 forward, in addition to “any earlier communications specifically referencing Gardner, the charged case, incarceration, testimony, emancipation, use of Bridegan’s attorney, or statements that family members were lying or supporting the defense.”
Mario Fernandez Saldana appears in court on Aug. 11, 2026. (Court TV)
After reviewing the messages, Kite said she would share “only those communications the Court determines materially bear on bias, influence, motive, credibility, or shaping of testimony” with the defense.
Kite also ruled that she would review communications from the Justice for Jared social media account, managed by Kirsten Bridegan. The defense had raised questions about what the account could contain after Kirsten Bridegan “admitted posting comments about defense counsel, including likening counsel to clowns and using the phrase ‘clowns be clowning'” in her deposition. While Kite denied the defense direct access to the account, she agreed to conduct a “targeted in-camera review of Justice for Jared content consisting of posts, comments and direct messages concerning defense counsel, the defense team, the defendants’ guilt or punishment, and any communications about stopping, editing, deleting, or removing case-related posts. Posts about the Court shall be included only if they also concern the defense, witness coordination, or removal instructions.”
Jury selection for Fernandez Saldana begins phase two on Wednesday, with 82 potential jurors moving forward, WJXT reported.
