JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Wednesday morning brought new updates in the murder-for-hire case stemming from the 2022 shooting death of St. Johns County father of four, Jared Bridegan.
Attorneys and Judge London Kite discussed how to get encrypted evidence from the defense to state investigators.
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They also took a deeper look into Henry Tenon, the confessed gunman in this case who mentioned false testimony while in court just weeks ago, throwing a major curveball into the case.
Shanna Gardner, Bridegan’s ex-wife, and her estranged husband Mario Fernandez Saldana are charged in Bridegan’s 2022 killing in Jacksonville Beach and the murder plot leading up to the shooting.
They sat quietly in court Wednesday morning as state prosecutors and the defense discussed the delivery of text message evidence to investigators.
RELATED: ‘False testimony’ statement from alleged gunman in Jared Bridegan murder surprised his attorney
Kite: “I need to authorize the secret service to transfer the property to the state in encrypted form? I don’t wanna get too specific. So secret service to the state.”
Assistant State Attorney Christina Stifler: “Yes.”
Kite and Stifler agreed to deliver that encrypted evidence to forensic expert Thomas Gano to review the evidence for the state.
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Action News Jax has told you for weeks about the controversy over Tenon talking about “false testimony” aloud in open court.
On Wednesday, Jesse Dreicer with Fernandez Saldana’s defense team detailed plans to request Tenon’s jail calls amid concerns from the defense over the status of Tenon’s plea deal.
Dreicer: “I’ll file a motion adopting the motion for jail calls today, just for the record.”
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Kite: “Thank you.”
The next court date for Fernandez Saldana and Gardner is set for March 28 at 9:30 a.m. for a case management hearing.
Tenon’s next hearing is on April 14 at 9 a.m.
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