JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The man accused of planning Jared Bridegan’s death appeared in Duval County court on Tuesday. Mario Fernandez faces first degree murder, conspiracy, and child abuse charges. Bridegan was the ex-husband of Fernandez’s wife. He was killed in February 2022.
Fernandez had a routine pre-trial hearing Tuesday and waived his right to a speedy trial. He’s accused of setting up Jared Bridegan to be killed back in February 2022.
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They’re in the discovery review stages. Defense attorneys also filed a notice of death penalty qualifications for attorneys representing Fernandez. The state is only seeking the death penalty for Fernandez.
Not for Henry Tenon, 61, who pleaded guilty to second degree murder, and for being the shooter in the ambush killing. Attorney Shannon Schott explains why the state is only pursuing Fernandez for the death penalty.
“Even though there’s conspiracy charges--everybody is considered an individual in the prosecution. And their cases are separate in that sense,” Shott said. “One important thing I wanted to note is, and we don’t have this information yet, but one item of mitigation that might come out of Mr. Tenon’s case is his cognitive abilities. It’s likely that the state is looking at the facts and circumstances of this case, and known that Mr. Tenon did not do this on his own, and there was a puppet master pulling the strings.”
Tenon agreed to testify against Fernandez. Both men now have court dates in July. Then the judge will check the status of the evidence.