High-stakes court day for Fernandez as possible sentencing, molestation case loom

A Jacksonville man convicted in connection with the murder of Jared Bridegan is set to appear before a Duval County judge Thursday on two separate legal fronts — a potential sentencing in the high-profile murder case and a pre-trial hearing on unrelated lewd and lascivious molestation charges.Mario Fernandez Saldana, 38, is scheduled to appear before Judge London Kite at 9 a.m. It is not yet clear which case will be called first.Murder case: New trial or sentencing?In the murder case, Judge Kite will hear Fernandez’s motion for a new trial. If the motion is denied, sentencing is scheduled to follow immediately.Fernandez was convicted in connection with the murder of Bridegan, a father who was shot and killed on a Jacksonville Beach road in what prosecutors described as a murder-for-hire plot. Bridegan’s ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, was at the center of the State’s theory — with prosecutors arguing Fernandez, her then-husband, orchestrated the killing amid an ongoing custody dispute.Defense