JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The estranged husband and wife accused in the murder-for-hire plot of a St. Johns County father will have separate trials.
In a departure from previous arrangements, that was the consensus reached by prosecutors and defense teams in court on Thursday morning.
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Mario Fernandez Saldana and his estranged wife Shana Gardner are accused of hiring Henry Tenon to kill Gardner’s first husband, Jared Bridegan, in Jacksonville Beach in 2022.
The trials are to be held one after the other, with their verdicts unsealed. Fernandez Saldana’s trial will be held first, and Gardner’s trial will be second.
The parties also appear to have agreed to separate jury selections, with Gardner’s jury picked after the end of Fernandez Saldana’s trial.
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“Your honor we have discussed with council from both teams, the state is fine to proceed with the separate trial trials as we had always planned, separate trials, separate juries,” said one of the prosecutors.
The judge originally wanted to keep the future verdict in Fernandez Saldana’s case sealed until after Gardner’s case ended to avoid biasing the jury.
Fernandez Saldana’s lawyer was against this, as his client would have to stay in jail, even if he were acquitted, as releasing him would reveal jurors that he was not guilty.
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Fernandez Saldana sat in the courtroom Thursday in a dark green jumpsuit, handcuffed. He did not speak for the entirety of the proceedings.
Gardner was not in court and her lawyers appeared in court virtually.
This case has been a complex back and forth since it began in 2022. Judge London Kite even appeared to want to get the pre-trial debates over with.
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“Well I’m gonna do it now. I’m done with this. I’m gonna do it now. I’m gonna reserve the time now because my calendar is filling up. I already … when I cleared those dates, I started setting trials. I don’t want to try to scramble around and move trials in other cases," Kite said.
The parties are expected back in court to handle more pre-trial motions in May.
The Judge slated Fernandez Saldana’s jury selection for August 10-14 with 250 potential jurors. His trial is set for August 17 through 28. Garner’s jury selection is scheduled for August 31 to September 4 with a pool of 500 potential jurors. Her trial is set for September 8–25.
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