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Verdict returned Verdict returned

Jared Bridegan Murder Trial

Verdict returned
Guilty

Published automatically after 3 independent newsrooms reported the same outcome, and that agreement held across two checks. Every one of them:

News4JAX · Fox News · wokv.com

Sentencing and any appeal are separate proceedings, covered separately. If you believe this is wrong, — corrections are made in public.

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The jury returned its verdict on Aug. 26, 2026: Guilty on both counts — first-degree murder and solicitation to commit a capital felony. Confirmed by 3 independent newsrooms, listed below. First-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no parole because prosecutors withdrew the death penalty; a hearing on Oct. 5, 2026 will set the sentencing date. Any appeal follows separately. — News4JAX · Fox News · wokv.com · News4JAX — what's next after the verdict

Mario Fernandez Saldana, 38 · Two counts. First-degree murder — in Florida that is a "capital felony," the most serious grade of crime there is. And solicitation to commit a capital felony, which is the crime of asking, hiring or encouraging someone else to kill. He is not accused of firing the gun. On July 27, 2026, three weeks before trial, prosecutors quietly dropped two of the original four counts: conspiracy to commit murder, and a child abuse count arising from a child being in the car. And in November 2025 the state withdrew its notice that it would seek the death penalty, a decision it said Jared Bridegan's widow and family supported. That single move changed the shape of this trial: there will be no penalty phase, and if the jury convicts on the murder count the sentence is already fixed by statute.
Not guilty — his lawyers concede Jared Bridegan was murdered and that Henry Tenon was the shooter, but say the $10,000 Fernandez paid Tenon was for tree work, roofing, landscaping and tile plus seed money for a pallet business, and that no witness, no forensic trace and no recording ever puts Fernandez in the plot.
Duval County Circuit Court, Florida · Judge London Kite · Prosecution: Assistant State Attorney Christina Simak Stifler (delivered the opening statement), Assistant State Attorney Alan Mizrahi · Defense: James Hill (delivered the opening statement), Jesse Dreicer (lead cross-examiner)

Related case

Shanna Gardner's trial →
Bridegan's ex-wife is charged in the same murder-for-hire scheme; her trial is set for May 2027, to be tried alongside the accused gunman, Henry Tenon. — News4Jax/WJXT

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Filings and primary sources

The statutes, opinions and dockets this case actually turns on. Each one opens at its official home.

Document Fla. Stat. § 777.011 — Principal in first degree Primary legal source · Public record ↗ Document Fla. Std. Jury Instr. (Crim.) 3.5(a) — Principals Primary legal source · Public record ↗ Document Fla. Std. Jury Instr. (Crim.) 3.5(b) — Principals, when the active participant was hired by the defendant Primary legal source · Public record ↗ Document Fla. Stat. § 782.04(1)(a) — premeditated first-degree murder Primary legal source · Public record ↗ Document Fla. Stat. § 777.04 — criminal solicitation Primary legal source · Public record ↗ Document Duval County Clerk — CORE case search Florida is a strong public-records state; filings are usually viewable. · Public record ↗
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The official record

Who's covering it

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How this can end
Guilty of first-degree murder
Life in prison with no parole, automatically. Because prosecutors withdrew the death penalty, Florida law leaves the judge no choice and no range: a capital felony where death is not imposed carries life imprisonment, and the statute says the person "shall be ineligible for parole." There is no penalty phase and nothing for Judge Kite to weigh.
— Fla. Stat. § 775.082(1)(a) — penalty for a capital felony · Fla. Stat. § 782.04(1)(a) — first-degree murder is a capital felony · News4Jax/WJXT — death penalty withdrawn
Guilty of solicitation to commit a capital felony
Up to 30 years. Asking or hiring someone to commit a capital crime is graded one notch down, as a first-degree felony, and the general sentencing statute caps a first-degree felony at 30 years. The jury can convict on this count, on the murder count, on both, or on neither — they are separate questions.
— Fla. Stat. § 777.04(2) and (4)(b) — solicitation and its grading · Fla. Stat. § 775.082(3)(b) — 30-year cap for a first-degree felony
Guilty of a lesser charge instead of first-degree murder
If Judge Kite instructs the jury on lesser included offenses — second-degree murder is the usual one — a conviction there is a first-degree felony carrying up to life, but it is a sentencing range rather than a locked life term. Which lessers actually go on the verdict form has not been reported yet; that gets settled at the charge conference before closing arguments.
— Fla. Stat. § 782.04 — degrees of murder and their grading · Fla. Stat. § 775.082(3)(b) — first-degree felony sentencing
Not guilty on both counts
He walks out of the courthouse a free man on this case and cannot be tried for it again. It would not touch the other two prosecutions: Shanna Gardner's trial still starts in September and Henry Tenon's still goes in March 2027, each on its own evidence.
— News4Jax/WJXT — three defendants, three trials · CBS News / AP — trial schedule for all three
Hung jury (no unanimous verdict)
Judge Kite declares a mistrial and nothing is decided. Prosecutors would be free to try him again in front of a new jury — a hung jury is not an acquittal. Note that Judge Kite has already ruled these jurors will not be sequestered during deliberations; they go home each night under instructions not to discuss the case.
— Action News Jax — jury will not be sequestered · News4Jax/WJXT — jury seated, names sealed 60 days

The law behind the verdict, in plain English →

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