JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The much-anticipated trial of Shanna Gardner and her estranged husband, Mario Fernandez -- who are accused of plotting to have her ex-husband, Jared Bridegan, killed in 2022 -- will not begin for another year.
During a pretrial hearing on Thursday, Judge London Kite agreed with a request from the attorneys to set a new trial date of Aug. 3, 2026. That’s when jury selection would begin nearly one year from now.
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Gardner and Fernandez will have separate juries for the trial, and Kite discussed the possibility of bringing in as many as 500 potential jurors (250 each) for jury selection because of the high-profile nature of the case.
Kite expects the trial, which is a death penalty case, to go until Sept. 18, including a potential Penalty Phase.
Before Thursday, the trial for Gardner and Fernandez had been set to begin on Oct. 20, 2025.
In an earlier pretrial hearing, the state said that it had provided both defense teams with its complete discovery inventory and that the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office computer forensic unit was able to recover data from some damaged hardware that was seized in a raid. They did not elaborate on what that data included.
Gardner and Fernandez are under indictment for first-degree murder in what prosecutors say was a murder-for-hire plot in the death of Gardner’s ex-husband, 33-year-old Jared Bridegan.
Related: Gardner’s attorneys seek sanctions for SAO, say it ‘abused its authority’ in murder-for-hire case | Jared Bridegan’s wife files wrongful death lawsuit against 3 accused in his murder
Bridegan, a father of four, was gunned down outside his SUV on Feb. 16, 2022, after he stopped to move a tire that was blocking the road. He was taking his normal route home after dropping off the twins he shared with Gardner at her Jacksonville Beach home.
According to police reports, the admitted gunman, Henry Tenon, fired four shots, two hit Bridegan and two hit the SUV. Tenon, a former tenant of Fernandez, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the Bridegan case and had agreed to testify against the estranged couple.
But in January, the case took a turn when Tenon said his testimony was false and asked for a new lawyer. That led to his public defender stepping down earlier this month. He now has a new attorney as he considers withdrawing his guilty plea.
The change could significantly impact the case against Fernandez and Gardner, according to a legal analyst.
After Bridegan’s death, courts settled a custody dispute between Gardner’s parents and Bridegan’s parents over the care of the couple’s twins. Full guardianship was granted to Gardner’s parents, who live in Washington state, with visitation rights for the Bridegans, according to sources for the Florida Times-Union.
Bridegan’s widow, Kirsten, and members of the Bridegan Foundation were presented with a Back the Blue award for their Bexley Box initiative. Bexley, who was a toddler at the time of the murder, was in the SUV when her father was shot.
Kirsten Bridegan has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the three people facing charges in his murder.
