Lindsay Shiver, a Georgia mother and former beauty queen, should be freed from prosecution in the Bahamas due to "legally fatal" evidence issues, according to one of her U.S.-based attorneys. The attorney, Craig Shirley, asserted that Bahamian prosecutors do not have the jurisdiction to pursue murder-for-hire charges for alleged actions that occurred while Shiver was in the United States.
"Lindsay Shiver is not guilty of the crimes alleged against her by the Bahamian Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). Period," Shirley stated. He argued that while the indictment suggests Shiver was in the Bahamas on July 16, 2023, when the purported conspiracy took place, her defense has provided evidence from multiple independent sources indicating she was in the U.S. on that date. Shirley emphasized that the prosecution must prove Shiver's presence in the Bahamas on that specific day, a burden he claims they cannot meet.
Shirley characterized the discrepancy not merely as a factual dispute but as a jurisdictional defect that prevents the Bahamian government from prosecuting Shiver under its own penal code. "Lindsay cannot be prosecuted under the Bahamian Penal Code for an alleged act committed at a time when the undisputed evidence establishes that she was not in The Bahamas," he said. He described this as a "legally fatal defect in the DPP's evidence, its charges and its continued prosecution of Lindsay."
He expressed shock and disappointment that Bahamian authorities are continuing the prosecution, contending they have a legal obligation to drop all charges. "Lindsay should never have been subjected to a prosecution that the Bahamian government lacked the legal authority to bring," Shirley added.
The alleged plot was reportedly uncovered by Bahamian authorities during an investigation into an unrelated break-in at a bar in Abaco, Bahamas. While examining a suspect's phone, police discovered WhatsApp messages containing photos of Robert Shiver, Lindsay Shiver's ex-NFL player husband, alongside text instructions attributed to Lindsay Shiver that read, "Kill him." Defense attorneys have maintained that these messages were taken out of context.
Shiver, along with her alleged lover Adrien Bethel and the alleged hitman Faron Newbold Jr., were arrested in the Bahamas in July 2023. They have all pleaded not guilty to the conspiracy to commit murder charges under Bahamian law. Shirley issued his statement independently, without prior knowledge from Shiver or her Bahamas-based attorney, Terrel Butler, who declined to comment.