{"id":130521,"date":"2026-01-24T17:39:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T17:39:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/130521\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T17:39:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T17:39:39","slug":"bridegan-murder-suspects-defense-team-still-has-questions-for-the-admitted-gunman-action-news-jax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/130521\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridegan murder suspect\u2019s defense team still has questions for the admitted gunman \u2013 Action News Jax"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 One of three people charged in the murder-for-hire plot of a local father was in court on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twtr.in\/3lkt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/twtr.in\/3lkt\">Mario Fernandez Saldana<\/a> appeared before a judge, this time, without his estranged wife, Shanna Gardner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">The couple is awaiting trial on charges they plotted to kill Gardner\u2019s ex-husband, Jared Bridegan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/live-breaking\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/live-breaking\/\" target=\"_blank\">&gt;&gt;&gt; STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE &lt;&lt;&lt;<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">In February 2022, Bridegan was shot and killed in Jacksonville Beach. His 2-year-old daughter was in his car.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">A man named <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/new-documents-reveal-man-who-admitted-shooting-killing-jared-bridegan-may-have-lied-testimony\/XJ6BGZWUGJEI5BQCJEIV7YP6KM\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/new-documents-reveal-man-who-admitted-shooting-killing-jared-bridegan-may-have-lied-testimony\/XJ6BGZWUGJEI5BQCJEIV7YP6KM\/\">Henry Tenon<\/a> admitted he pulled the trigger. Tenon rented a home from Fernandez and claims Fernandez and Gardner paid him to kill Bridegan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">\u201cMr. Tenon gave his information, and then my client was subsequently and immediately arrested. He is, what I would say, an essential witness for the government that says my client is involved,\u201d said Fernandez\u2019s defense attorney Jesse Dreicer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">[DOWNLOAD: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/mobile-apps\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Tenon has pleaded guilty to murder and conspiracy charges. But Fernandez\u2019s defense team has more questions about timelines and the possibility that more people may have been involved in the murder-for-hire plot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Dreicer said, \u201cThere is some other unindicted co-conspirator at some point, who has not been arrested, who has not been identified, and I should not be left to guess who that is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Prosecutors said they\u2019re still gathering information and are not required to reveal their theory about the case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">[SIGN UP: <a href=\"https:\/\/membercenter.actionnewsjax.com\/newsletters\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">\u201cA conspiracy on its face is a fluid and flexible allegation,\u201d said Assistant State Attorney Christina Stifler.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">The judge agreed to give Fernandez\u2019s defense more time to talk to Tenon and get the answers they need before the case goes to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/trial-date-2-accused-jared-bridegans-murder-begin-august-2026\/VET3IMKSPRBU7AOXIG4GKUNHH4\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/trial-date-2-accused-jared-bridegans-murder-begin-august-2026\/VET3IMKSPRBU7AOXIG4GKUNHH4\/\">trial in August<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Fernandez and Gardner are due in court again on Feb. 6.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/mobile-apps\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/mobile-apps\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/video\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n<p>Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 One of three people charged in the murder-for-hire plot of a local father was in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64331,16779,639,64327,64329,64332,116,118,117,5729,64328,634,64325,64330,64326,64333],"class_list":{"0":"post-130521","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-brigan","9":"tag-bright","10":"tag-duval_county","11":"tag-fernandez_saldana","12":"tag-gardner","13":"tag-henry_tennen","14":"tag-jacksonville","15":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","16":"tag-jacksonville-news","17":"tag-jacksonville_beach","18":"tag-jared_brigan","19":"tag-local","20":"tag-mario_fernandez_saldana","21":"tag-saldana","22":"tag-shanna_gardner","23":"tag-tennen"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}