JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Court TV) — A husband and wife charged with the murder-for-hire of a Microsoft executive will face separate juries in trials scheduled back-to-back.
Shanna Gardner and her husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana, appeared in court together on Dec. 1, 2023. (Court TV)
Shanna Gardner, 39, and her husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana, 37, are charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation in the death of Gardner’s ex-husband, Jared Bridegan, 33.
While Gardner and Fernandez Saldana were indicted together and have had hearings together throughout the pretrial period, prosecutors and their defense teams agreed to try the two in separate trials with two different juries picked at separate times.
Prosecutors had initially built their case against Gardner and Fernandez Saldana based on the testimony of the alleged triggerman, Henry Tenon. Tenon, who initially had cooperated with investigators and said that he was hired to kill Bridegan, changed his story and withdrew his guilty plea in February. With that change, prosecutors abandoned their plans to seek the death penalty and changed course to try the couple separately.
Fernandez Saldana will stand trial first, with jury selection beginning on Aug. 10 and opening statements scheduled to begin the week of Aug. 17. The trial is expected to end by Aug. 28.
Immediately following Fernandez Saldana’s trial, Gardner’s jury selection will begin on Aug. 31, with opening statements scheduled for Sept. 8. In an effort to avoid issues of a tainted jury that may have been exposed to Fernandez Saldana’s trial, the court will call twice as many prospective jurors as normal to be interviewed for Gardner’s trial.
Bridegan was driving home with his youngest child when prosecutors say he was lured out of his car by a tire left intentionally in the center of the road. When he got out to investigate, Bridegan was shot to death in an attack Jacksonville Police Chief Gene Smith described as a “planned and targeted ambush and murder.”
No trial date has been set for Tenon, who has now entered a not guilty plea in Bridegan’s death.
