JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Court TV) — The attorney for a woman accused of hiring a hit man to kill her ex-husband accused the lead detective of lying under oath during a hearing and has asked a judge to release his client.
Shanna Gardner takes an oath in court in Dec. 2023, as she waives her right to a speedy trial. (Court TV)
Shanna Gardner faces a potential death sentence if she’s convicted for Jared Bridegan’s murder. Gardner, along with her second husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana, is accused of hiring Henry Tenon to shoot and kill the Microsoft executive. Bridegan was gunned down on Feb. 16, 2022, shortly after dropping off the children he shared with Gardner.
On Friday, Gardner’s attorney, Jose Baez, accused the prosecution and the case’s lead detective of lying during a previous hearing and asked for his client to be released, or at least given a new bond hearing.
READ MORE | Detective: Shanna Gardner used code names, plotted murder for years
At a bond hearing in May, Detective Christopher Johns testified for the prosecution about text messages found during the investigation into Bridegan’s murder that he said showed Gardner reaching out to friends, including Kimberly Jensen, to find a hitman. Prosecutors alleged that phrases like “funeral potatoes” were actually coded requests for a hitman.