It took a jury of seven women and five men about four hours to convict Mario Fernandez Saldana of the plot to kill Jared Bridegan, the ex-husband of his wife Shanna Gardner.
He was charged with first-degree murder and solicitation to commit a capital felony against and will be sentenced to life in prison. He had been in the courtroom since Aug. 10 when jury selection began. Next up is Gardner, whose jury selection begins Aug. 31. Then his former tenant Henry Tenon heads to trial next year.
Both sides already openly agreed it was Tenon who shot the 33-year-old with a 10mm gun in an ambush on Feb. 16, 2022, after he was leaving Fernandez Saldana and Gardner’s home in Jacksonville Beach for a visit with his children.
Both sides went back and forth
about the motive of a bitter divorce and tense relations over the shared custody of Gardner and Bridegan’s twin children.
Both sides went back and forth about the missing murder weapon and no images of who else was in Tenon’s pickup truck at the scene.
Both sides went back and forth about the financial records of Fernandez Saldana, Gardner and Tenon, including payments from Fernandez Saldana to Tenon after the murder.
Both sides went back and forth about Fernandez Saldana’s communication and time spent with Tenon and another person of interest John Biggerstaff, including the day before the murder.
In the end, jurors stood by the investigation and evidence. They were shown countless documents and videos and heard Fernandez Saldana’s voluntary interview with detectives and hours of testimony from people involved in the case or familiar with the key parties.
Assistant State Attorney Christina Stifler addressed jurors for about 2 1/2 hours in closing arguments, followed by defense attorney Jesse Dreicer with equal time. Assistant State Attorney Alan Mizrahi also provided closings for another roughly two hours.
The clerk of court’s office made special accommodations for all the media interested in the high-profile trial allowing it to be streamed live by the court, all three local TV news stations, the Times-Union and Court TV/Law&Crime.
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: The verdict is in for Mario Fernandez Saldana in Jared Bridegan murder
