After nearly getting charged with contempt of court for not turning over her cell phone to Shanna Gardner's defense team in a court order, Kirsten Bridegan has now been dropped from the witness list in the trial.
On Tuesday, Aug. 25, Gardner's attorneys filed a motion withdrawing her and Gardner and Jared Bridegan's twin son and daughter as witnesses to testify in next month's trial. Gardner is accused of conspiring with new husband Mario Fernandez Saldana to hire Henry Tenon to kill her ex in Jacksonville Beach over their bitter divorce and child custody matters.
Judge London Kite temporarily halted the trial of Fernandez Saldana on Aug. 21 after being informed Bridegan was refusing
to comply with Kite's court order to relinquish her cell phone.
The judge called for another hearing to deal with the development, but Florida's 5th District Court of Appeal quickly granted Bridegan a stay of three business days on the matter. It's unclear now if the phone is still an issue, but had she turned the phone over it would have been difficult for attorneys to review any of the findings in time for Gardner's trial. Her jury selection is scheduled to begin Aug. 31.
![Kirsten Bridegan, right, widow of Jared Bridegan, walks out during a break in day seven of the the Mario Fernandez Saldana trail. Saldana is charged with first-degree murder and solicitation to commit a capital felony in the 2022 hit on his wife's ex-husband, Jared Bridegan, in Jacksonville Beach. The trial continued Tuesday, August 25, 2026 at the Duval Count Courthouse in Jacksonville, Fla. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union]](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/authoring-images/2026/08/25/NFTU/91458791007-mario-trial-day-7-022.JPG)
The issue had been haggled over several recent hearings and motions from the two sides. Gardner's attorneys say data from the phone could be needed for the trial, while Bridegan's attorneys say it would be an invasion of privacy.
The defense's initial Aug. 11 motion addresses specific communication with her stepchildren, law enforcement and prosecutors, and her social media activity such as Justice for Jared Facebook and Instagram accounts.
The prosecution's responding motion states, "the Defendant’s proposed five-category definition of ‘victim-support communications’ is artificially narrow and inconsistent with the broad protections Florida’s Constitution and Marsy’s Law afford to crime victims."
Bridegan filed her own objection stating that Gardner's attorneys "chose to wait until the last minute to engage in extended litigation over phone records and social media data."
She's also provided multiple depositions and been subpoenaed by Gardner's defense team.
As a victim, she "has the right to due process and fairness; to be free from harassment; to prevent disclosure of information that could be used to locate or harass her; and to be heard in any proceeding implicating her rights — enforceable by her own counsel," her objection states.
Scott Butler has been an editor/reporter specializing in public safety coverage for 26 years with The Florida Times-Union. He can be reached at sbutler@jacksonville.com.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Shanna Gardner withdraws Kirsten Bridegan as a witness in her trial
