A Florida jury convicted Mario Fernandez Saldana of murder in the 2022 ambush murder of Microsoft executive Jared Bridegan.
The jury on Wednesday found the defendant, who is married to Bridegan’s ex-wife, guilty of first-degree murder and solicitation to commit a capital felony.
Fernandez Saldana was ordered to return to court Oct. 5 to receive his sentencing date.
Investigators said Bridegan, 33, was shot to death at close range in February 2022 in Jacksonville Beach after stopping his car to move a tire in the middle of a dark road.
His daughter, who was just 2 years old at the time, was sitting in the back seat during the shooting but was uninjured.
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Prosecutors argued the scene was a deliberate set-up stemming from a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife Shanna Gardner and her husband, Fernandez Saldana.
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Prosecutors allege the duo planned the hit by hiring Henry Tenon as the gunman. Tenon initially pleaded guilty before rescinding that plea. He is scheduled to go to trial next year.
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Fernandez Saldana was arrested in March 2023, followed by Gardner’s arrest in August. Both were indicted on the same charges in Bridegan’s killing.
A judge ruled that Gardner and Fernandez Saldana would be tried separately with different juries. Gardner’s trial is set for September.
