JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Court TV) — A convicted felon who took the witness stand on Monday denied providing the murder weapon to a defendant accused of orchestrating the murder-for-hire of a Microsoft executive.
Mario Fernandez Saldana, 38, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and conspiracy in the death of his wife's ex-husband, Jared Bridegan. Saldana is the first of three defendants to stand trial; his wife, Shanna Gardner, and the alleged gunman, Henry Tenon, are being tried separately.
Bridegan was killed on Feb. 16, 2022, after dropping off the two children he shared with his ex-wife at Fernandez's home. Prosecutors said that Bridegan was lured out of his car by a tire placed in the center of the road; when he got out to move the obstacle, he was shot to death.
On Monday, prosecutors called Fernandez's longtime friend, John Biggerstaff, to the stand. John Biggerstaff, a former police officer, pleaded guilty to unrelated nonviolent crimes in 2016 and, as a result, was required to surrender all the weapons he owned. Among those weapons was a 10 mm Glock firearm. While the weapon used to kill Bridegan has never been recovered, crime scene analysts previously testified that the 10 mm bullets were all fired from the same gun that had characteristics consistent with a Glock.
John Biggerstaff said that he and his son worked together to submit an affidavit listing 20 weapons that they removed from his house after he was ordered to surrender them. The document lists the 10 mm weapon, including its serial number and purchase date. John Biggerstaff's son, Juan Biggerstaff, also testified on Monday, saying that he took the weapons and left them at his sister's house. Then, he took some of the guns for himself and left the others in a gun locker at the home of Fred Burton, one of his father's friends.
Juan Biggerstaff, a current police officer, denied knowing where the weapon was, saying the 10 mm was not one of the guns he kept for himself. He worked with investigators pretrial and wore a wire to try to elicit information about the missing weapon from his father, but he was unsuccessful.
Burton testified as well, saying that the guns were picked up a week later.
John Biggerstaff denied knowing where the 10 mm weapon was when pressed by Assistant State Attorney Alan Mizrahi.
Mizrahi: "Where's your gun now?"
John Biggerstaff: "I have no idea, sir."
Mizrahi: "No idea where your 10-millimeter firearm is?"
John Biggerstaff: "No, sir."
When he was cross-examined by the defense, John Biggerstaff testified that the gaps in his memory could be the result of a traumatic brain injury he suffered after a slip-and-fall at a gas station in 2022. He also admitted to struggling with addiction, saying he had been sober for three weeks.
Sign up for Court TV's free newsletter to get breaking news and trial updates delivered to your inbox.
After a brief sidebar during his testimony, John Biggerstaff signaled to the judge that he might have a problem. The jury was sent out of the room and his testimony was paused. "My concern is, as a cryptologist, I've been trained to look at everything and listen to everything," John Biggerstaff said. "So I don't know if I wasn't supposed to hear that conversation over there, but the court reporter has the screen open right in front of me that I can read. I didn't read much, but I just saw that the words going across match what I could overhear and I just wanted to let you know in case there's something that comes out of that later."
The attorneys agreed there was no issue with the witness having overheard what was happening, but Judge London Kite asked the court reporter to please angle her screen differently.
The post 'I have no idea': Witness denies giving missing gun to defendant in murder of Microsoft executive appeared first on Court TV.
Court TV — Your Front Row Seat to Justice. Live gavel-to-gavel trial coverage, expert legal analysis, and in-depth crime reporting from America's most-watched court network. Watch on TV, at courttv.com, and on connected devices.