A judge on Tuesday granted two defense requests from Mario Fernandez-Saldana’s legal team, temporarily barring prosecutors from introducing two conversations they hoped to present as evidence at trial, while leaving open the possibility that the material could still be allowed later.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The rulings came during a key pretrial hearing in the case tied to the 2022 killing of Jared Bridegan, a father of four who prosecutors say was murdered as part of a plot involving his ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, and her now-estranged husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana.
Judge London Kite considered two motions from Fernandez-Saldana’s defense team seeking to exclude specific conversations from the upcoming trial. She granted both requests, but the decisions are not final.
One of the disputed conversations involved Gardner and a friend. Prosecutors have said Gardner told the friend she wanted to “eliminate” Bridegan. Attorneys for Fernandez-Saldana argued the statement is covered by spousal privilege, a legal protection that generally prevents private communications between spouses from being used in court.
Curtis Fallgatter, a former federal prosecutor, questioned that reasoning, saying spousal privilege typically would not apply once a spouse shares the communication with someone else.
“The privilege there doesn’t apply at all, so I’m puzzled about why that is possibly getting kept out,” Fallgatter said.
For now, the judge sided with the defense and excluded the conversation from the trial. Prosecutors, however, may ask the court to reconsider the issue outside the presence of the jury.
“I would think it would come in,” Fallgatter said.
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The second ruling centered on a person prosecutors said overheard a conversation between Gardner and Fernandez-Saldana. Prosecutors wanted to use what that person heard, but the defense again cited spousal privilege.
“Even if they are agreeing to commit a crime together, the privilege still applies,” Fallgatter said.
The judge sided with the defense again, blocking the testimony from trial for now, but left room for prosecutors to make additional arguments later.
“The judge’s ruling is consistent with the law that the marriage is protected,” Fallgatter said.
Fallgatter said spousal privilege typically doesn’t apply if a third person is present during the conversation. But he said Gardner and Fernandez-Saldana may not have realized someone else was listening.
“So they still thought it was a confidential communication, even though it wasn’t,” Fallgatter said.
The rest of Tuesday’s hearing focused on logistics for jury selection, which begins Aug. 10.
Fernandez-Saldana’s murder trial is set to begin Aug. 17. First Coast News will stream the entirety of the proceedings live on First Coast News+.
