Lindsay Shiver, the Georgia beauty queen accused of plotting to kill her ex-NFL husband, should not face prosecution in the Bahamas due to “legally fatal” flaws in the evidence, her U.S. attorney said. Craig Shirley argued Bahamian authorities lack jurisdiction because Shiver was in the United States—not the Bahamas—on the date the alleged conspiracy occurred.

Defense claims jurisdiction issue invalidates charges

The indictment alleges Shiver was in the Bahamas on July 16, 2023, when she allegedly conspired with her lover, Adrien Bethel, to hire a hitman. But Shirley said the defense has provided prosecutors with “evidence from multiple independent sources” proving she was in the U.S. that day.

“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 told Fox News Digital. “It cannot.” He called the discrepancy a “jurisdictional defect” that bars prosecution under Bahamian law.

“This is not a technicality; it is a legally fatal defect in the DPP’s evidence, its charges and its continued prosecution of Lindsay,” Shirley added.

Prosecution’s case hinges on WhatsApp messages

Bahamian authorities uncovered the alleged plot during an unrelated break-in investigation at a bar in Abaco. Police found WhatsApp messages on a suspect’s phone, including photos of Robert Shiver and text allegedly from Lindsay reading, “Kill him.”

Shiver, Bethel, and the accused hitman, Faron Newbold Jr., were arrested in July 2023. All three pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder under Bahamian law. Defense attorneys maintain the messages were taken out of context.

What happens next in the case

Shirley said he was “shocked and disappointed” that Bahamian authorities continue to pursue the case, calling it a prosecution “the Bahamian government lacked the legal authority to bring.” Neither Shiver nor her Bahamas-based attorney, Terrel Butler, were aware of Shirley’s statement in advance. Butler declined to comment.

The next legal steps remain unclear, but the defense’s jurisdictional challenge could force prosecutors to dismiss the charges or risk a court ruling in Shiver’s favor.