JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A man accused of arranging the fatal shooting of a Microsoft design manager on a Florida road was convicted Wednesday in a murder-for-hire scheme fueled by a stormy child custody arrangement between the victim and his wealthy ex-wife.
\n\nJared Bridegan was shot four years ago after he got out of his SUV to remove a tire from a road in Jacksonville Beach. The attack stumped police for months as they struggled to understand why someone with no apparent enemies would be killed while his daughter sat nearby in her car seat.
\n\nProsecutors believe he was killed because of ongoing strife with his former wife over the parenting of their twins.
\n\nMario Fernandez Saldana, 38, was convicted of first-degree murder and solicitation of murder. He’s married to Bridegan’s former wife, Shanna Gardner, whose trial is set to start in September.
\n\nBridegan was “unarmed, unaware, exposed, vulnerable. He couldn’t have known, on that cold asphalt in February of 2022, the architects of his murder had been making preparations for his death for months,” Assistant State Attorney Christina Stifler said during closing arguments.
\n\nDefense attorney Jesse Dreicer told jurors that Fernandez Saldana had no motive to have Bridegan killed. Fernandez…
Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/