He was not at the scene. How can that be first-degree murder?

Florida treats the person who procures a killing as guilty of the killing itself. The standard instruction the jury will hear breaks it into two findings: that Fernandez had a conscious intent that the criminal act be done, and that he did some act or said some word intended to, and which did, “incite, cause, encourage, assist or advise” Henry Tenon to commit it. The same instruction says in terms that a principal “does not have to be present when the crime is committed”.

What does premeditation actually require?

Less time than most people assume, and more thought. The instruction defines killing with premeditation as killing after consciously deciding to do so, with that decision present in the mind at the time of the killing. There is no clock in the law. The instruction says only that the period “must be long enough to allow reflection by the defendant”. The state does not have to show months of planning, but it does have to show a decision made before the act rather than in the moment.

Do jurors have to believe money changed hands?

For the murder count they have to find the two things above. There is a second version of the principals instruction written for the situation alleged here, where the defendant is said to have hired the person who did it, and it asks whether he made or promised payment in exchange for the killing and whether the killing then happened. Solicitation is charged separately and answered separately, so jurors can go one way on the murder count and the other way on solicitation.

Principal liability — how Florida convicts a man who never touched the gun

Plain-English explainer, drawn only from the case law, the statute, and the model jury instruction. Not legal advice.

Correction, Aug 22, 2026. This page carried a burden-of-proof note and three questions about the Massachusetts insanity defence — material belonging to the Lindsay Clancy case, left over from when the site covered one case. It rendered here in error. The Massachusetts material was removed on 2026-08-22 and the questions below were written from this case’s own statute and model jury instruction. Nothing else on this page changed.

The test

Florida does not have a separate, lighter crime for the person who arranges a killing. Under the principals statute, whoever "aids, abets, counsels, hires, or otherwise procures" an offense is guilty of that offense itself — the same first-degree murder as the shooter — "whether he or she is or is not actually or constructively present." The jury instruction breaks it into two things the state must prove: first, that Fernandez had a conscious intent that the killing be done; second, that he did some act or said some word that was meant to, and actually did, "incite, cause, encourage, assist or advise" Henry Tenon to commit it. There is a second version of that instruction written for exactly this situation — where the defendant is alleged to have paid the person who did it — and it asks whether the defendant made or promised payment in exchange for the killing, and whether the killing then actually happened. Because the charge is first-degree murder, the state must also prove premeditation: a decision to kill formed before the act, not in the heat of the moment.

Who has to prove what

Entirely on the state, beyond a reasonable doubt, on every element of both counts. Fernandez does not have to prove anything, does not have to testify, and does not have to explain the checks, the tire or the missing 70 minutes on his phone. His side's job is only to make the jury unsure — which is why the defense keeps returning to what the state's own witnesses conceded on the stand: no DNA, no fingerprints, no weapon, no surveillance of him, and no witness who ever heard him and Tenon discuss a killing. The verdict must be unanimous either way.

He was not at the scene. How can that be first-degree murder?: Florida treats the person who procures a killing as guilty of the killing itself. The standard instruction the jury will hear breaks it into two findings: that Fernandez had a conscious intent that the criminal act be done, and that he did some act or said some word intended to, and which did, “incite, cause, encourage, assist or advise” Henry Tenon to commit it. The same instruction says in terms that a principal “does not have to be present when the crime is committed”.
What does premeditation actually require?: Less time than most people assume, and more thought. The instruction defines killing with premeditation as killing after consciously deciding to do so, with that decision present in the mind at the time of the killing. There is no clock in the law. The instruction says only that the period “must be long enough to allow reflection by the defendant”. The state does not have to show months of planning, but it does have to show a decision made before the act rather than in the moment.
Do jurors have to believe money changed hands?: For the murder count they have to find the two things above. There is a second version of the principals instruction written for the situation alleged here, where the defendant is said to have hired the person who did it, and it asks whether he made or promised payment in exchange for the killing and whether the killing then happened. Solicitation is charged separately and answered separately, so jurors can go one way on the murder count and the other way on solicitation.

— Fla. Stat. § 777.011 — Principal in first degree · Fla. Std. Jury Instr. (Crim.) 3.5(a) — Principals · Fla. Std. Jury Instr. (Crim.) 3.5(b) — Principals, when the active participant was hired by the defendant · Fla. Stat. § 782.04(1)(a) — premeditated first-degree murder · Fla. Stat. § 777.04 — criminal solicitation · Standard Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases, Fla. Supreme Court No. 82,438 (1994) — premeditation

What each verdict means

Every outcome the jury can return in this case, and what it would mean. Each one carries the statute or the reporting it rests on.

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

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