Jacksonville, Florida: Fernandez Saldana Gets Life in Prison for Bridegan Murder Plot

Mario Fernandez Saldana will spend the rest of his life in a Florida prison. Judge London Kite denied his motion for a new trial on Thursday, November 12, and sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Jared Bridegan, the Florida Times-Union reported.

A Duval County jury found Fernandez Saldana, 38, guilty on August 26 of first-degree murder and solicitation to commit a capital felony. Court TV reported that he also received 30 years on the solicitation count. First-degree murder in Florida carries a mandatory life sentence, but Kite first heard victim impact statements from Bridegan's family.

His widow, Kirsten Bridegan, told the court she does not believe Fernandez Saldana has any remorse. She said her husband "was not an inconvenience to be eliminated." She also explained why she accepted the state dropping its plan to seek the death penalty. She said she did it out of compassion for Jared's two oldest children, who lost their father and were then separated from their younger sisters.

Bridegan's daughter Abigail, 14, had her statement read aloud. She wrote that she has had to learn to live without her dad, knowing she will never be able to call him or hug him again. His sister, Ashley Jenkins, said the murder shattered her stability. His father, Gaylord Bridegan, spoke by video call and said the family feels his absence every day.

The 2022 ambush

Bridegan, 33, a Microsoft design manager and father of four, was shot on February 16, 2022, on Sanctuary Boulevard in Jacksonville Beach. He had just dropped off his 9-year-old twins at the home of his ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, and her husband, Fernandez Saldana, and was driving back to St. Augustine. A tire had been placed in the dark road. Bridegan stopped, put on his hazard lights and got out to move it, and was shot several times. His 2-year-old daughter was in the back seat and was not hurt.

Prosecutors said Fernandez Saldana and Gardner conspired to hire Henry Tenon to kill Bridegan during a long and bitter custody dispute. Both sides agreed at trial that Tenon fired the shots.

The new trial motion

The defense filed a 30-page motion on October 16 built around a stolen .40-caliber handgun recovered on September 17 during an unrelated narcotics investigation in Killeen, Texas. The defense argued the recovery undercut part of the state's account of how the guns in the case changed hands. Prosecutors answered in a 17-page filing on November 3 that the defense had failed to object to most of the issues at trial and that the recovered gun did not resolve the whereabouts of the 10mm murder weapon. Kite denied the motion without explaining her reasoning and moved straight to sentencing.

Gardner and Tenon are set to be tried together next year. Separate charges filed against Fernandez Saldana shortly after his trial remain pending.