JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Court TV) — With just months to go until the trial for two people charged in the murder of Microsoft executive Jared Bridegan, attorneys in the case are struggling to agree on how the trial itself will play out.
Shanna Gardner and her husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana, appeared in court together on Dec. 1, 2023. (Court TV)
Bridegan’s ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, and her husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana, are accused of hiring their tenant, Henry Tenon, to murder the victim, who was shot to death while driving home in February 2022.
Prosecutors built their case around Tenon, who initially confessed to his alleged role in the shooting and had agreed to plead guilty and testify against Gardner and Fernandez Saldana. But two years after his arrest, Tenon withdrew his guilty plea and told prosecutors he was no longer going to cooperate with their case. First, that led to prosecutors dropping their intent to seek the death penalty against Gardner and Fernandez Saldana, and now it’s creating problems for how the state planned to present its case to the jury…