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The judge overseeing the case suggested bringing in as many as 500 potential jurors due to the level of public interest in the case.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The trial of Shanna Gardner and Mario Fernandez, who are charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Jared Bridegan, will not begin until next summer.
Gardner is the ex-wife of Bridegan, who was shot and killed in an ambush in February 2022. Fernandez is Gardner’s now-estranged husband. Both are accused of coordinating a “murder-for-hire plot” in Bridegan’s killing.
Thursday afternoon, Judge London Kite agreed with requests to move the trial date to Aug. 3, 2026 during a pretrial hearing. Attorneys said jury selection would begin Aug. 3 and could last a week.
The trial, which is a death penalty case, is expected to last more than six weeks. Kite said the trial could go through Sept. 18, including a Penalty Phase, in the event a guilty verdict is returned.
The trial was previously slated to begin Oct. 20, 2025.
Gardner and Fernandez will have separate juries, and Kite noted that as many as 500 potential jurors, 250 per defendant, could be brought in due to the level of public interest in the case. The judge also acknowledged the extensive amount of time a jury would have to be available for the length of the trial.
“I don’t know of any regular person that says, ‘Hey, I got 9 weeks of time,'” Kite said on Thursday. “So I’m not gonna bankrupt anybody, I’m gonna be generous with people’s ability to make this sacrifice. It would be a huge service slash sacrifice for this amount of time.”
Gardner and Fernandez are charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit a capital felony and child abuse.
Gardner and Fernandez are accused of plotting to kill Bridegan, knowing exactly when and where he would be for one of his planned visits with his shared-custody children. He was shot and killed during an ambush shortly after dropping them off at Gardner and Fernandez’s home in Jacksonville Beach.
Henry Tenon, the confessed gunman in the case, has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the fatal ambush in February 2022 and agreed to testify against Gardner and Fernandez.
Early this month, Tenon’s public defender withdrew as his representation, and he was appointed a new attorney. The change in counsel has created speculation as to whether Tenon plans to change his plea, though no such action has been made.
