Fernandez's Prosecutors Rested a Murder Case Without This

**Tony Brueski** (0:01)
This is Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski.

**Tony Brueski** (0:11)
The prosecution arrested its case against Mario Fernandez on day six of his murder trial in Jacksonville. Six days of testimony, no murder weapon recovered, no testimony from the alleged gunman, Henry Tenon, no text message, no email, no phone call, no recorded conversation, where Mario Fernandez asked anyone to kill Jared Bridegan.
Can they land it? I don't know that they can.
I don't know that they can. This is a case where it seems like there's very likely involvement here.
I don't really see a lot of ways around it, but beyond a reasonable doubt, beyond, I don't know if we reach the beyond point here. I'm being honest. I don't know.
It's not a great thing when you're the prosecution.
And this is day six where you're landing it. And keep in mind, the attorney for Shanna coming in at the end of this, I was a bias. He's a good one.
If he sees a clear path of no connection, well, there's a reason that he's the attorney in this case for Shanna when this comes up. But so far, so good, I guess, to a certain extent. I don't know. You tell me. Tell me. If you're watching this one, how do you think it's going so far for the prosecution and the defense?
The defense moved immediately for acquittal. The charges, first-degree murder and solicitation to commit a capital felony require evidence of a communicative act. In earnest request from Fernandez to Tenon to commit murder, nobody witnessed one. Nothing in writing says what happened to the original conspiracy charge, which would have given the prosecution a different legal path, was dropped back in July before the trial started. What's left is solicitation, a charge that lives or dies and whether the jury believes one person asked another person to do something. Without that ask, there is no crime.
I know, in reality, there is no way these dots connect without there being a crime, but it's can you prove it? Judge London Kite denied the motion. The case goes to the jury, possibly as early as Wednesday. We'll see what the defense brings. The question now is what 12 jurors do when every thread of evidence wraps around one and none of them are the thread the charge actually requires.
Tenon backing down and saying, I'm not going to be your star witness and testify against them, really, really, I think, through a wrench in the prosecution's case. Prosecutors called John Biggerstaff to the stand. The man investigators believe once possessed the murder weapon. Biggerstaff is a convicted felon. A former Navy veteran, a long time friend of Fernandez, he once owned a 10mm Glock, same type of firearm identified from shell casings. Found at the scene where Bridegan was killed, Biggerstaff denied giving any firearm to Fernandez repeatedly under oath. His son, Juan, a former law enforcement officer in Texas took the stand after him and said the same thing. Juan never saw his father with a firearm after 2016 when John surrendered his weapons following his felony conviction. But both Biggerstaff came with baggage. The prosecution made sure the jury saw. Juan's own department had ordered him to wear a wire on his father. The 10 millimeter came up in that recording. John told his son the gun would turn up after January 1st. Juan also, Juan had also used the serial number of the 10 millimeter while he reported two guns stolen from his vehicle in Texas at 23 The prosecutor pressed him on it, based on your training and experience. Are stolen guns and reporting them accurately important? Juan said yes. The minute the report was inaccurate, Baker's staff himself had changed his story about where the gun was. He deleted items from his phone before meeting with police and he told his son something prosecutors made sure landed in the courtroom. The only thing they care about is the 10 millimeter. The day before the murder, February 15th to 22nd, Fernandez was at Baker's staff's house. Baker's staff and his wife are swingers. And Fernandez allegedly did it with Baker's staff's wife that day at Baker's staff's request. How nice. And the recording apparently of the encounter exists. Defense Attorney Jesse Dreischer asked the question directly, Did you give Fernandez a firearm in exchange for sleeping with your wife? Baker's staff said no.
Prosecution's theory on the gun runs through circumstantial details. Fernandez visited Baker's staff on January 25th, three weeks before the murder. That same day, Baker's staff searched online for information about 10mm firearms, his stories about the weapon shifted, and he can't account for what or where it ended up. The defense's answer is simpler. There's no physical evidence Fernandez ever touched that gun, Detective. Chris Johns admitted as much under cross-examination last week, but the prosecution had its own answer to the missing weapon. Johns testified that investigators received information in 2023 that the gun used to kill Bridegan was destroyed shortly after the shooting. If the gun no longer exists, its absence from evidence doesn't mean Fernandez never had it. That's also why investigators didn't search the home of Jimmy Jones. Where the blue Ford F-150 linked to the murder was eventually found, the gun, prosecutors say, was already gone. The murder weapon has never been recovered. Neither side disputes that. The second pillar of the prosecution's case is money. Jones took the stand again on day six, focused on Fernandez finances. The testimony centered on three checks written from Fernandez business, First Choice Home Rentals LLC to Henry Tenon, all dated after Bridegan was killed on February 16th, March 28th, 22, $2,000. Memo line reads, landscaping and clearing. Same day, 3,000. Memo reads, keeping up with the roof. April 4th, 5,000. Memo reads Kickstarter. Good luck. $10,000 total. The check stubs were recovered from inside. The blue Ford F-150 that investigators say carried the gunman to the scene. Tenon's typical weekly check from Fernandez ran $300 to $365 for handyman work. Before March of 2022, his bank account averaged more than $170 in the negative. After the three deposits, balance jumped above $9,000. No invoices from Tenon for any of the described work were ever found. The defense challenged all of it. Trashier showed the jury that in the three months before the homicide, Fernandez financial record shows zero payments to Tenon, not a single check, not a single transfer. For a prosecution alleging Fernandez hired a man to commit murder, there's no evidence he paid anything before the murder happened. Checks came after, Trashier arguing the timing is consistent with bulk payments for legitimate work Tenon had already performed on Fernandez properties. Johns walked the jury through the Gardner family trust, Shannon Gardner's parents, the owners of Stampin Up, a craft supply company, created an irrevocable trust for their daughter in 2019 They made Fernandez the trustee, giving him administrative and financial control. That seems like a wise move. The trust contained a clause. Shannon could resume control of the money when she had no further legal entanglements with her ex-husband, Jared Bridegan. That, you know, that language sat in the document from 2019 until February 16th of 22, when the entanglements ended permanently. By April, Shannon had opened new accounts and started moving money. Prosecutors also noted two $75,000 checks from Gardner's parents, one to Shannon, one to Fernandez, written in December of 21, two months before the killing. But the defense landed a counter that matters. Dreischer got John's to admit on the stand that after Fernandez and Gardner separated, Fernandez didn't get richer, he got poorer. Shannon ended up with more money because she gained direct access to the trust. If the murder was supposed to make Fernandez wealthier, the financial records say it didn't. Before the jury entered the courtroom on day six, the prosecution made one more attempt to get something closer to direct evidence in front of the panel. Kim Jensen, a friend of Shannon Gardner's, had been subpoenaed and given an immunity deal she testified outside the jury's presence. Jensen recalled Gardner telling her that Fernandez had eyes everywhere and that there had been missed opportunities with regard to Jared Bridegan. Jensen recalled Gardner saying Fernandez asked if there was anything he wanted her to take care of in reference to Jared. Gardner's alleged response, according to Jensen, absolutely not. Fernandez attorneys objected those were communications between husband and wife, relayed through a friend, protected by marital privilege. Judge Kite reviewed the text messages between Jensen and Gardner and found roughly 45% could potentially be admitted. But the statements about what Fernandez allegedly asked his wife to do, the closest thing in six days of testimony to evidence of intent, those are blocked. The jury never heard Kim Jensen. The court's timeline showed her testimony ended before jurors were brought back for the next witness. The most direct account of Fernandez expressing willingness to act against Bridegan stayed outside the room where it would have mattered.