Woman accused of ordering murder of Microsoft exec husband hires Casey Anthony’s lawyer

The woman charged with orchestrating the murder of her estranged Microsoft executive husband has hired Casey Anthony’s ex-attorney, according to court papers.

Shanna Gardner, 36, who hails from a wealthy Utah family, tapped Miami-based lawyer Jose Baez to defend her against charges that she plotted the cold-blooded killing of Jared Bridegan, the father of her two children.

Baez vaulted to fame after securing a shocking not-guilty verdict for Anthony, who went to trial for the killing of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee more than a decade ago.

He represented the late New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez in 2017, drawing an acquittal on double murder charges in that case.

Baez also counts disgraced former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein as a prior client.

Gardner, who was recently extradited back to Florida from Washington state, is facing first-degree murder charges and a possible death penalty.

Baez entered a not-guilty plea for his new client and requested an appearance waiver for a scheduled Friday proceeding in Jacksonville, court papers show.

Bridegan had just dropped off the twins he had with Gardner at the home she shared with her new husband, Mario Fernandez, when he encountered a tire placed in the middle of the road.

With his 2-year-old daughter Bexley in the backseat, Bridegan was shot dead after he exited the vehicle to clear the path.

Several bullets nearly struck the traumatized tot, who remained in the car near her doting dad’s lifeless body until a passerby spotted the scene and called police.

Suspicions immediately swirled around Gardner, who was locked in a custody dispute with Bridegan at the time, despite their 2015 divorce.

Those speculations spiraled after a tattoo parlor owner came forward and said Gardner once asked him if he knew anybody who could make her spouse disappear.

Gardner later said she made the comment in jest, staunchly denying any involvement in the crime before leaving Florida and moving to a $1 million home her parents bought for her in West Richland, Washington.

But the walls began to close in on Gardner with the arrest of admitted triggerman Henry Tenon, a former tenant in a ramshackle Jacksonville property owned by her new husband.

Investigators revealed that Fernandez allegedly paid Tenon to murder Bridegan, and that he agreed to cooperate with authorities.

Fernandez was the next suspect to be placed in handcuffs, and was charged with first-degree murder in March for his role in the crime.

Gardner was the last to face arrest, and was apprehended at her home in Washington in August and escorted into a police car as the kids she shared with Bridegan watched.

Her parents, Shelli and Sterling Gardner, are prominent members of the Mormon community in Utah and founded the lucrative Stampin’ Up paper company.

They’ve backed their daughter since Bridegan’s death, taking her, Fernandez and the twins on a Florida vacation just weeks after the stunning homicide.

The victim’s widow, Kirsten Bridegan, has maintained that the Gardners “isolated” her husband’s children from their half-siblings and paternal relatives.

Baez did not immediately return a request for comment on his new case.