“I WISH HE WOULD DISAPPEAR”!!! BELIEVE IT OR NOT, PROSECUTORS SAY SHANNA GARDNER CONSPIRED WITH HER HUSBAND TO HIRE A HITMAN TO KILL HER EX-HUSBAND JARED BRIDEGAN OVER A CONTENTIOUS CUSTODY DISPUTE… AND HER MURDER TRIAL HAS NOW BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL 2027.
Shanna Gardner will have significantly more time to prepare for trial.
Prosecutors agreed to postpone proceedings just days after her husband, Mario Fernandez, was convicted in the murder of her ex-husband, Jared Bridegan.
Fernandez was convicted last week of first-degree murder and solicitation to commit a capital felony.
Gardner, 39, had been scheduled to begin jury selection on Monday.
Her new trial date is May 3, 2027.
Three weeks of testimony are scheduled to begin May 10, 2027.
Gardner is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit a capital felony and child abuse.
She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Prosecutors allege Gardner and Fernandez conspired to hire Henry Tenon to kill Bridegan.
The alleged plot followed years of contentious custody disputes between Gardner and Bridegan over their twins.
Now prosecutors plan to return Gardner and Tenon’s cases to a grand jury.
The state is taking the step in an effort to join the two cases.
Prosecutors intend to try Gardner and Tenon together in 2027.
But Gardner’s defense team is already fighting over how some of the prosecution’s key evidence can be presented.
Her defense is led by Jose Baez.
Her attorneys want the court to restrict how prosecutors characterize certain evidence.
Among other things, the defense wants prosecutors barred from referring to a vehicle captured on surveillance as “Tenon’s truck.”
Her attorneys want prosecutors barred from identifying Tenon in unclear surveillance footage.
They are seeking to stop prosecutors from describing a second phone Gardner obtained as a “burner phone.”
And the defense wants prosecutors barred from referring to alleged activity as a “dry run.”
The defense is also seeking to exclude specific photographic and testimonial evidence.
They are asking to exclude certain crime-scene photographs.
They are seeking to exclude certain autopsy photographs.
Her attorneys are seeking to exclude marital communications between Gardner and Fernandez.
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They want to exclude suggestions that Gardner deleted Ring-camera footage.
Additionally, they are seeking to exclude testimony comparing Tenon’s walk with that of the person seen leaving the murder scene.
One major difference between Gardner’s upcoming trial and Fernandez’s case could be the money trail.
Jurors in Fernandez’s trial saw three checks totaling $10,000 that Fernandez wrote to Tenon.
Prosecutors successfully argued the payments were disguised compensation for Bridegan’s killing.
Those checks were not written by Gardner.
Yet prosecutors have previously pointed to messages allegedly written by Gardner years before Bridegan’s murder.
In those communications, Gardner allegedly said she wished Bridegan would “disappear.”
Other messages referenced wanting someone who could “shut people up.”
The messages also referenced wanting someone who could perform “permanent disappearing acts.”
Prosecutors argue those communications are evidence of Gardner seeking a hitman.
Her defense maintains that the messages were part of a long-running joke.
Another fight is unfolding before trial over subpoenaed communications.
Gardner’s attorneys subpoenaed Bridegan’s widow’s phone.
The defense is seeking private communications they believe could contain evidence relevant to the defense.
The judge ordered limited compliance subject to court review.
Bridegan’s widow is appealing that ruling.
She is arguing that the demand violates her privacy and victims’ rights.
Fernandez has now been convicted in the alleged murder-for-hire plot.
Prosecutors still have to independently prove Gardner was part of it.
Gardner remains accused, not convicted.
She has pleaded not guilty.
Her trial date is set for May 3, 2027.
Testimony is scheduled to begin May 10, 2027.
The charges are allegations and have not been proven in court.
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