JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Attorneys for Shanna Gardner continued to argue in court Friday that she should be released on bond ahead of her trial in the murder-for-hire plot that prosecutors say left her ex-husband, 33-year-old Jared Bridegan, dead in 2022.
Gardner and her estranged husband, Mario Fernandez, are under indictment for first-degree murder in Bridegan’s death and both face the possibility of the death penalty.
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Attorneys also argued Friday for certain evidence to be thrown out before the trial because lead attorney Jose Baez accused prosecutors of not turning over “critical evidence” to the defense.
Baez said much of the motion surrounds incidents and testimony that took place during Gardner’s bond hearing, known as an Arthur Hearing, on May 15.
She was denied bond at that hearing, but Baez accused the State Attorney’s Office of withholding favorable evidence and said Detective Chris Johns lied under oath.
He specifically referred to Johns’ testimony where he spoke of certain text messages that were exchanged between two witnesses identified as “SL” and “KJ.”
The state argued the messages were about Gardner seeking help in hiring a hitman to kill Bridegan. However, Baez said the text messages were a long-running joke, and everyone involved knew it.
A woman involved in the text messages testified Friday.
“Let me just ask you outright, did you ever contact Susan Lee, on behalf of Shanna Gardner, to try and get her husband to find a hitman for Shanna Gardner,” Baez asked.
“I did not,” Kim Jensen said.
Jensen went on to say the text messages were a joke.
Baez said the state had not disclosed those messages before the bond hearing.
“This is textbook lying and hiding the ball by Detective Johns,” Baez said. “The fact that the prosecutors were present during the questions is another matter altogether.”
But the prosecution in its response pointed out that the text messages the state used in the hearing were included in a transcript that was sent to the defense in January.
In his motion, Baez also mentioned that after the hearing, two witnesses contacted him wanting to set the record straight and gave sworn statements.
“Both witnesses submitted affidavits clarifying their position and basically saying that these statements were completely taken out of context, and they are completely, utterly false,” Baez said.
Prosecutors said it would be up to the court or a factfinder to determine the value of the messages and whether they were part of a long, ongoing joke.
“The texts with Mrs. Lee were not argued by the state as evidence that this is solicitation it was argued to show the very thing they’re arguing,” a prosecutor said. “To rebut this argument Mrs. Jensen and Mrs. Gardner were just joking.”
A woman named during the hearing told Gardner’s attorney that Detective Johns lied on the stand about trying to contact her.
In their response, prosecutors said Johns clarified he could not remember the effort made to contact the second woman named — because he did not have case notes with him in court.
The prosecution said if “Detective Johns recollection was mistaken, he will be subject to impeachment during any future testimony.”