Lindsay Shiver’s U.S. attorney says Bahamian authorities have no legal authority to bring murder-for-hire charges tied to alleged conduct that, he argues, 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,” attorney Craig Shirley said in a statement to INC News.
Lindsay Shiver and her alleged lover, Adrien Bethel, far left, are accused of conspiring to kill her husband, Robert Shiver, the father of their three sons. (Daniel William McKnight/ Instagram)
According to Shirley, the indictment places Shiver in the Bahamas on July 16, 2023, the day prosecutors say the alleged plot unfolded. But he contends the defense has already submitted evidence from several independent sources showing she was in the U.S. at the time.
“The DPP must prove it. Meaning that, as a threshold requirement, the DPP is required to prove that Lindsay was in the Bahamas on July 16, 2023,” Shirley said. “It cannot.”
Lindsay Shiver exits the Supreme Court in the Bahamas on Aug. 9, 2023. Shiver, 36, is accused of plotting to kill her husband, Robert Shiver, a former standout football player at Auburn University. (Daniel William McKnight)
Shirley said the issue goes beyond a disagreement over the facts. In his view, the alleged timeline creates a jurisdictional flaw that bars the Bahamian government from pursuing the case under its 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.
“This is not a technicality; it is a legally fatal defect in the DPP’s evidence, its charges and its continued prosecution of Lindsay,” he said.
Shirley said that he was “shocked and disappointed” that Bahamas authorities were continuing to pursue prosecution against Shiver, saying that they have the obligation to drop all charges.
“Lindsay should never have been subjected to a prosecution that the Bahamian government lacked the legal authority to bring,” he said.
Shirley noted that he issued the statement independently and that neither Shiver nor her Bahamas-based attorney, Terrel Butler, had prior knowledge he was providing it. Butler declined to provide comment.
Lindsay Shiver, far right, wearing a hat that reads “Bad Influence” is accused of plotting to kill her husband, Robert Shiver. (Instagram)
The alleged plot was unraveled by Bahamian authorities during an unrelated break-in investigation at a local bar in Abaco, Bahamas.
While searching a suspect’s phone, police discovered WhatsApp messages containing photos of Robert Shiver alongside text instructions allegedly sent by Lindsay Shiver reading, “Kill him.” Defense attorneys maintained that the messages were taken out of context.
Shiver, along with her lover, Adrien Bethel, and the alleged hitman, Faron Newbold Jr., were arrested in the Bahamas in July 2023. Shiver, along with Bethel and Newbold Jr., is charged with conspiracy to commit murder under Bahamian law. They pleaded not guilty to all charges.
INC News has reached out to Bahamas prosecutors and to Robert Shiver’s attorney.
