The woman accused of masterminding the slaying of the Microsoft executive’s estranged husband has hired Casey Anthony’s former lawyer, according to court papers.
Shanna Gardner, 36, who comes from a wealthy Utah family, asked Miami-based lawyer Jose Baez to defend her against accusations that she planned the cold-blooded murder of Jared Bridegan, the father of her two children.
Baez rose to prominence after securing a shocking not guilty verdict for Anthony, who went on trial for killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee more than a decade ago.
He represented the late New England Patriots’ Aaron Hernandez in 2017, winning an acquittal on charges of double homicide in that case.
Baez also counts disgraced former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein as a past client.
Jose Baez represented Casey Anthony when he was acquitted of murder in 2011. REUTERS Gardner faces the death penalty for his role in the death of Jared Bridegan. Duvall County Jail
Gardner, who was recently extradited back to Florida from Washington state, faces charges of first-degree murder and the possible death penalty.
Baez entered a not guilty plea for his new client and requested an appearance waiver for Friday’s proceeding scheduled in Jacksonville, court papers show.
Bridegan had just dropped off her twins with Gardner at the home she shares with her new husband, Mario Fernandez, when she came across the tire lying in the middle of the road.
Kirsten and Jared BrideganInstagram / @justiceforjaredb
With her 2-year-old daughter Bexley in the back seat, Bridegan was shot dead after she got out of the vehicle to clear a path.
Several shots nearly hit the traumatized victim, who remained in the car near his father’s lifeless body until a passerby saw the scene and called police.
Suspicion immediately swirled around Gardner, who was locked in a custody dispute with Bridegan at the time, though they divorced in 2015.
Gardner has been locked in a custody battle with Bridegan over their two children. West Richland Police Department
The speculation came to a head after a tattoo parlor owner came forward and said Gardner once asked him if he knew anyone who could make his partner disappear.
Gardner later said he made the comments jokingly, vehemently denying any involvement in the crime before leaving Florida and moving into a $1 million home his parents bought for him in West Richland, Washington.
But the walls began to close in on Gardner with the arrest of the admitted triggerman Henry Tenon, a former tenant in her new husband’s dilapidated Jacksonville estate.
Henry Tenon was the trigger of Bridegan’s death. Jacksonville Beach Police Department
Investigators revealed that Fernandez allegedly paid Tenon to kill Bridegan, and that he agreed to cooperate with authorities.
Fernandez was the next suspect to be handcuffed, and charged with first-degree murder in March for his role in the crime.
Gardner was the last person to face arrest, and was arrested at his Washington home in August and escorted into a police car as the children he shared with Bridegan watched.
Mario Fernandez, Gardner’s new husband, allegedly paid Tenon to kill Bridegan.Bob Self/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK
Her parents, Shelli and Sterling Gardner, were prominent members of the Mormon community in Utah and founded the profitable Stampin’ Up paper company.
They have supported their daughter since Bridegan’s death, taking her, Fernandez and her twins on vacation in Florida just weeks after the stunning murder.
The victim’s widow, Kirsten Bridegan, has insisted that the Gardners “isolated” her husband’s children from their half-siblings and half-brothers.
Baez did not immediately return a request for comment on his new case.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
