JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The lawyers for one of three people charged with the murder-for-hire plot that left a St. Johns County father of four dead want the prosecutors off the case.
The lawyers for Mario Fernandez, the man accused of planning the death of Jared Bridegan, have filed a sweeping motion asking the trial judge to disqualify 4th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Melissa Nelson’s Office from prosecuting him for the murder of Bridegan.
Both Fernandez and his estranged wife, Shanna Gardner, face a first-degree indictment in the February 2022 murder of 33-year-old Jared Bridegan in Jacksonville Beach. Admitted triggerman Henry Tenon has agreed to testify against them as part of his plea on a second-degree murder charge. Bridegan was shot several times at close range after stopping to remove a tire from the road in Jacksonville Beach. His two-year-old daughter Bexley was in the backset of the SUV, but wasn’t hit.
In the 63-page motion filed with the Duval County Clerk of Court, defense lawyers Jesse Dreicer and Frank Tassone say the State Attorney’s Office (SAO) is using as evidence privileged communications between Fernandez and Gardner, and communications protected by attorney-client privilege.
The communications include text messages and emails.
The documents also note that there were wiretaps in place involving the FBI, ATF, and Secret Service.
Defense attorneys asked the SAO to refrain from viewing the cellphones of Fernandez and Gardner until a motion for a protective order could be taken up by the 5th District Court of Appeals.
Although a so-called “taint team” was initially created to redact privileged communications, the defense claims that the SAO continued to use privileged information, such as a document titled “Confidential Communications.” The SAO insisted the document was not confidential, and the defense was denied access, according to the motion.
Fernandez, 35, was arrested in Orlando in March 2023, exactly one year and one month after the murder. Gardner, 36, was arrested five months later in August in her family’s $1 million home in Washington state. State attorney Nelson said her office plans to seek the death penalty against both of them for their role in plotting the alleged murder-for-hire, an ambush shooting that happened after Bridegan dropped the two children he shared with Gardner off at her Jacksonville Beach home.
The large amount of evidence in the case prompted the creation of a Nextpoint portal to store it all. It took months to create the portal. The defense wasn’t granted access until Oct. 20, and was “shocked” to learn the SAO intends to use attorney-client privileged communications, including 66 emails between Gardner and defense lawyers.
The defense argues that obtaining a recorded phone call between Gardner and her defense lawyer in Washington State is “especially troubling.” The evidence against Fernandez and Gardner includes wiretaps, recorded jail calls, and other monitoring methods. Among those who had access, according to the documents, were prosecutors, police detectives, and federal agents with the ATF.
The defense said at least 28 people have been granted access to the Nextpoint portal, which it calls a “breach of confidentiality.” They assert that the SAO took no action to prevent the mass distribution of communications protected by attorney-client privilege.
Citing concerns for the defendants, the defense requests the disqualification of Nelson’s office, citing precedents where prosecutors were disqualified for violating attorney-client privilege.
Documents show the client-attorney conversations started before Gardner and Fernandez were arrested. Both retained private attorneys before facing charges in the case. Gardner recently parted ways with attorney Hank Coxe and hired Casey Anthony’s former defense attorney, Jose Baez.
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Furthermore, defense lawyers said, “the state attorney’s office did nothing to prevent the mass distribution of communications clearly protected by attorney-client privilege.” The defense says in Florida, courts have consistently disqualified prosecutors who have violated attorney-client privilege, and it cited other cases.
Judge London Kite, who is presiding over the case, will decide whether to recuse the 4th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office. If that’s the case, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will appoint a special prosecutor from a different circuit. The closest circuits are in Daytona Beach, Gainesville, and Orlando.
News4JAX reached out to the State Attorney’s Office as soon as the documents were released. In an e-mail, a spokesperson said “The State will file appropriate objections to the defendant’s motion and is confident it will prevail after full consideration by the Court.”
Dreicer had no comment about the case besides what was filed. Neither did Bridegan’s widow, Kirsten, when reached by phone.
The next hearing for Fernandez and Gardner is Dec. 1, and it is expected this motion will be discussed. This will potentially be the first time Fernandez and Gardner appear together in court since their arrests.
In a separate filing released Wednesday, the State Attorney’s Office shared a 23-page evidence summary with Mario Fernandez and Shanna Gardner’s lawyers. The extensive evidence, including statements from witnesses, surveillance videos, admissions from triggerman Henry Tenon, and jail calls, is stored in a dedicated portal.
Belkis Plata, a Jacksonville defense attorney unaffiliated with the case, said it could take months for Gardner and Fernandez’s lawyers to go through all of the discovery.
“I would imagine a couple of months, maybe four months, six months. This is a lot of information,” Plata said. “So I imagine they’re going to go to court in a short few weeks and say, ‘Judge, we’re going to waive speedy trial.’ There’s just no way this case is going to be ready in six months, we’re talking about the lives of individuals.”
Agencies involved in the investigation include Jacksonville Beach Police, JSO, FBI, ATF, and the Secret Service, according to the document. The Secret Service acted as a “taint team” for privileged communications.
“We have federal agents involved, likely to analyze the cell site information that they were able to obtain. So cell site data to show where people were at different points in time, even going back in time, obviously, to the date of the offense or prior to to figure out where these individuals were, were they in close proximity to each other,” Plata said.
The SAO obtained warrants for wiretaps and intercepted communications from Fernandez and Gardner. Records show guns were retrieved from Fernandez’s home, but the murder weapon remains unknown.
Gardner and Fernandez are scheduled for a pre-trial hearing on Dec. 1 at 9 a.m.
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