The stage is set for attorneys from opposing sides to make their opening statements to make their case for or against Mario Fernandez Saldana.
There will be national audience as local media and Court TV/Law&Crime Network will be livestreaming as well as the 4th Judicial Circuit. The Times-Union also will be live-blogging.
For four days, the attorneys culled through dozens of potential jurors and came away with a panel of seven women and five men, according to News4Jax. Two more men and two more women are alternates.
Jurors must decide if Fernandez Saldana, 38, is innocent or guilty of first-degree murder and solicitation to commit a capital felony. He and his now-estranged wife Shanna Gardner, who goes to trial next month, are accused of orchestrating a plot to kill her ex-husband, 33-year-old Jared Bridegan, by hiring gunman Henry Tenon in 2022. Tenon, who goes on trial next year, was a tenant of Fernandez Saldana.
The motive, authorities have said, was a long and bitter divorce and custody dispute. On the night of Bridegan’s shooting death, he was returning to St. Augustine after dropping off his 9-year-old shared-custody twin son and daughter at Gardner and Fernandez Saldana’s home in Jacksonville Beach.
Not far from the home on Sanctuary Boulevard, investigators said it is believed Bridegan stopped to move a tire off the isolated road and was shot multiple by times. His 2-year-old daughter was still in the backseat but unharmed.
The case has drawn national and even international attention with multiple components and true-crime appeal.
Before witnesses, family, friends, detectives and forensic experts are called to testify, the prosecution and defense will present their opening statements Monday, Aug. 17.
For the state, the lead attorneys are Assistant State Attorneys Christina Stifler, Alan Mizrahi and Stephen Siegel.
For the defense, the lead attorneys are Jesse Dreicer, James Hill, Shannon Day and Frank Tassone.
The Times-Union will provide some of the highlights here.
(This is a developing story that will be updated periodically.)
Scott Butler has been an editor/reporter specializing in public safety coverage for 26 years with The Florida Times-Union. He can be reached at sbutler@jacksonville.com.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Highlights from opening statements to come for Fernandez Saldana trial
Reporting by Scott Butler, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
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By Scott Butler, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union | USA TODAY Network
