Shanna Gardner waived her right to a speedy trial while Mario Fernandez-Saldana and his attorney spent time discussing a filed motion.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It was expected that Shanna Gardner and Mario Fernandez would be face-to-face in their first joint court hearing since their arrests… but they were brought into the Duval County courthouse separately.
Gardner went first, was in normal clothing, and was unshackled before her hearing began. Her attorney, Jose Baez, said the state sent their team the discovery, but shut down the NextPoint site after Fernandez’s attorney’s filed a motion that’s confidential. Attorney/client privileged material had been uploaded to the site as well.
Baez says they have not had access to the discovery since Nov. 15.
Gardner also waved her right to a speedy trial. Her hearing was relatively short and when they went to bring in Fernandez, Gardner was told to sit to the side and then was taken out of the courtroom. Fernandez did not appear to look at her as he walked past.
Fernandez was still in his jail attire and was shackled during his appearance. Much of the time spent in his hearing centered around the motion the defense filed saying privileged emails and information were uploaded in NextPoint.
The State Attorney’s Office has said it was unintentional and the emails were never looked at or opened by the State Attorney’s Office or law enforcement.
But, there does appear to be one document in contention and the judge said she takes attorney/client privilege very seriously. The judge offered to have an independent circuit judge hear the arguments about that document which would shield even her from hearing privileged information. We will likely hear more about this in Fernandez’s next court appearance on Dec. 11, 2023.
Gardner’s next court appearance, however, will be on Feb. 2, 2024.
