Will Shanna Gardner be released on bond in ex's murder? Here's what the judge decided
Two-hundred and eighty-one days. That's how long Shanna Gardner has been in jail while awaiting trial in her ex-husband's murder-for-hire plot in Jacksonville Beach.
Friday she learned she will have to remain there until her case is resolved.
Last week, following the May 13 ruling to not remove the State Attorney's Office from the case, both the state and defense went back and forth about whether she should be granted bail and the opportunity to be conditionally released until a jury is selected.
Judge London Kite issued her order Friday denying Gardner and her attorneys' motion requesting to set bail and allow her the opportunity to bond out.
She did not elaborate Friday in court other than to say she carefully considered the evidence that was presented and handed both sides her order.
The law states that unless charged with a capital offense or an offense punishable by life imprisonment and the proof of guilt is evident or the presumption is great, every person charged with a crime in Florida is entitled to pretrial release on reasonable conditions. The State Attorney's Office is seeking the death penalty against Gardner and her next husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana.
They are each charged with murder in the first degree, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit a capital felony and child abuse. Each is in jail without bail, although Fernandez Saldana's separate defense team has not filed a motion seeking a similar request.
Henry Arthur Tenon, 63, has already pleaded guilty to killing 33-year-old Jared Bridegan and is awaiting sentencing. He confirmed being the triggerman, but Fernandez Saldana and Gardner are implicated as the masterminds behind the plot.
Bridegan and Gardner had a contentious divorce and were mired in legal matters and custody and financial disputes. He was on his way home to St. Augustine after dropping off their twin children to Gardner and Fernandez Saldana in February 2022. Before he could get to the highway on his regular route back, he was ambushed and killed in front of his 2-year-old daughter sitting in her car safety seat.
A judge has the discretion to set bail for potential release of a defendant, particularly when the burden of proof is not met by the state beyond a reasonable doubt.
"Ms. Gardner asserts that the state of Florida cannot meet this extremely high burden of proof," according to a Feb. 5 motion to set bail filed by her attorneys. "Further, she has every expectation of being found not guilty at trial."
The motion states she is not a danger to her community and would not fail to appear for court proceedings or flee. Although it noted she did not leave the United States during intense scrutiny, it downplayed that Gardner had fled with her children to the state of Washington in a home recently bought by her prominent entrepreneur parents.
During the May 15 bond hearing, the defense did call her previous private attorney Hank Coxe to testify. He said he advised the State Attorney's Office that he would have Gardner surrender if they issued a warrant for her arrest. He said they did not respond.
When she relocated to West Richland, Wash., he said it wasn't a secret because she notified the school district. But he advised her to come back to the area so he could easily produce her to authorities if they wanted her arrested. She stayed for a while in Airbnbs in Tallahassee and Savannah until returning to be with her children in Washington.
Why should Shanna Garder get bond?
The defense's motion presents several other points to support pretrial release.
Gardner is charged as a principal to murder in the first degree and is not the actual killer.
Despite recognizing the real possibility that she would be arrested like her husband was in March 2023, she continued to communicate with the State Attorney’s Office through her counsel.
After leaving Jacksonville Beach she remained through her previous counsel in contact with the State Attorney’s Office and offered to surrender if given notice of an arrest warrant.
Once arrested Aug. 17, 2023, in Washington, she did not challenge extradition once warrants were signed by the governor there and in Florida.
Gardner has two children and a large family, all of whom reside in the United States. She and her children do not have valid passports.
Lastly, Gardner has no criminal history.
Defense attorney Patrick Korody also argued that much of what the state is calling evidence is just hearsay and that Tenon never mentioned Gardner in the planning. He noted that the majority of text messages Gardner made alluding to having Bridegan disappear were from several years ago.
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"What they show is a dislike for Mr. Bridegan," Korody said. "You have a friend venting to another friend over a very difficult co-parenting situation and a contentious divorce. ... They're indicators of frustration but not proof of a murder on February 16 of 2022. In retrospect, those words were clearly in poor judgment, but poor judgment does not in any way equate to actual intent and does not prove misconduct in this case."
"The evidence they have is both stale and weak," Korody said in closings.
Co-counsel Jose Baez also pointed out that key and damning statements Jacksonville Beach police say Gardner's best friend told them were not recorded. He said their texts and code words are the way they talk, kind of morbid but just jokes. He repeatedly hounded state witness detective Christopher Johns with questions starting with "Are you aware..." and in many cases he wasn't entirely.
Why should Shanna Gardner be denied bond?
The State Attorney's Office countered with lengthy text message conversations between Gardner and her best friend, Kim Jensen. They went on and on about wanting Bridegan dead and ways to destroy him. They frequently referred to him as "Stupid" and used code words like "magic" to make him disappear and "funeral potatoes" or "casserole" that Johns said was understood to be for Bridegan's impending death.
The texts extended to how to cause his death and did they know anyone who could carry it out. Gardner also said she's not joking, she wants him gone.
Assistant State Attorney Christina Stifler said this establishes the frame of mind Gardner was in to set this whole plot into motion.
Once Gardner became involved with Fernandez Saldana, a friend and co-worker told police she said he "had a military background and that he'd take some guys, break into Jared's house and take care of him, and no one would ever know what happened," Johns testified.
Bridegan's brother, Justin, also told police Gardner discussed being so frustrated with him that "she considered hiring a hitman to take him out," Johns said.
He said when police first interviewed Jensen, she neglected to tell them about the texts and chats until being subpoenaed after detectives discovered the phone conversations. Jensen also said Gardner talked about how Fernandez Saldana could either kill or find people to kill Bridegan. When Gardner would be particularly angry, "Mario's solution was always to offer to take care of Jared," Jensen said according to Johns. "... He would watch his movements, follow him, try to develop patterns of what he did where and when. What would be the best way to carry out the plan."
Jared Bridegan's ex-wife: Here's what Shanna Gardner told police in her first extensive interview after ex's death
The Gardner family also had an annual trip and about a week before Bridegan's slaying, they went to Hawaii, including Gardner and Fernandez Saldana. Jensen said Gardner texted her during that time frame saying she was frustrated with her marriage and was going to call it off with Fernandez Saldana. In discussing it with him, "Mario stated to Shanna that Mario was going to in fact kill Jared, and that if she didn't want it to happen, she needed to speak up and say it now."
In closings, Stifler stated, "This was cold, calculated, premeditated murder following years of plotting and planning, manifesting, hoping, wishing, making it happen, seeking, enticing, inciting, encouraging."
Everybody jokes about their ex, she said, but those people didn't end up dead, shot by a man renting a home from her company that's funded by her trust.
"She may not have pulled the trigger, but she has Jared Bridegan's blood on her hands nonetheless," Stifler concluded.
What was the judge's final say about denying Shanna Gardner bond?
After reviewing the evidence and assertions in the case, "the court finds the state has met its burden in proving that defendant is a principal to first-degree murder, a capital offense," Kite's 10-page ruling concludes. "There is ample evidence in the form of statements to Detective Johns, financial records and defendant's text messages that support her guilt for the purposes of whether pretrial detention is appropriate."
The judge also ruled the defense did not prove that conditions of a potential release can effectively protect the public and assure Gardner's presence at trial and the integrity of the judicial process.
"The court is concerned that defendant is a flight risk because her ties to the community are superfluous," Kite's ruling states. "Defendant no longer owns her home here, does not have a job here, and her children do not live here."
Gardner already felt so overwhelmed by the attention and scrutiny that she left the area, and now the circumstances have magnified even more, the judge said.
"Defendant also has ample means [presumably through her parents] to facilitate fleeing the jurisdiction," the ruling states. "... The court is not confident that if defendant were to be released pending trial, she would be able to resist the temptation to flee. Even if defendant does not flee the jurisdiction, there is concern she may interfere with the integrity of the judicial process."
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Judge denies bond for Shanna Gardner in murder of Jared Bridegan
