Accused ‘murder for hire’ housewife Lindsay Shiver was thrown back in prison on her birthday after a Bahamian judge blasted her recent appearance on an American daytime show as a ‘spit in the face’ of justice, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.
Judge Cheryl Grant-Thompson said footage of Shiver – who turned 38 on Monday – ‘parading in a blue sundress’ on Good Morning America was a clear breach of the island nation’s strict restrictions on pre-trial publicity.
The October 3 segment included an interview with her co-accused barman beau Adrien Bethel in which he scoffed at claims they had plotted with alleged hitman Faron Newbold Jr. to slay Shiver’s estranged husband Robert, 39.
Shiver and Bethel blamed ABC for reneging on a contractual agreement not to air any footage before the outcome of their conspiracy to murder trial, scheduled for March 2025.
But both are headed to Nassau’s notorious Fox Hill Prison – one of the grimmest lockups in the Caribbean region – after Grant-Thompson revoked their bail and ordered police to cuff Shiver and lead her away.
Lindsay Shiver was ordered to return to prison in the Bahamas on Monday – her 38th birthday – over her recent appearance on Good Morning America
Judge Cheryl Grant-Thompson said footage of Shiver ‘parading’ in a sundress on an October 3 segment of Good Morning America was a clear breach of the Caribbean nation’s strict restrictions on pre-trial publicity
The Supreme Court judge wrote in a scathing 14-page ruling obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com: ‘What the respondents have done can be seen by the applicant as a spit in the face of justice.
‘If it were the other way around had counsel for the Crown proceeded on a frolic of their own, making unnecessary comments to the international media, the respondents would likely be “up in arms”.
‘They would be concerned with their right to a fair trial.’
A defendant giving an interview at this stage of proceedings in the US might be unwise but would be perfectly legal. But it’s unlawful in the Bahamas, which has its roots in the British justice system, where it’s considered interfering with justice to broadcast anything that could influence a prospective juror.
‘Mrs Shiver. … can be seen on the Good Morning America interview parading around in a blue sundress on international television, speaking directly relative to the evidence in the trial,’ the ruling thundered.
It added: ‘The respondents were arrested and charged within The Bahamas. The respondents applied for bail in adherence to the laws of The Bahamas.
‘It cannot now be asserted that since they are citizens of the United States of America that they abide by the laws and customs of the USA in relation to a trial pending in The Bahamas.
‘This court will not accept this blatant disregard for the laws of The Bahamas.’
Shiver was further accused of staying overnight at multiple locations and going on various Florida vacations despite the court fitting her with a GPS tag and ordering her to sleep only at her parents’ home in Abbeville, Alabama.
Unlike the US, it is considered unlawful for a defendant to give an interview at this stage of proceedings in the Bahamas which has its roots in the British justice system
Footage obtained by DailyMail.com shows the blonde housewife being hauled away to the notorious Fox Hill Prison – one of the grimmest lockups in the Caribbean region
Mom-of-three Shiver plotted to kill her estranged husband with her lover, prosecutors in the Bahamas claim
She and Bethel – who was also accused of failing to check in with local police on eight occasions – have challenged the decision but they will remain behind bars until it’s considered by the Court of Appeal, a process that could take several weeks.
Rat-infested Fox Hill has been slammed by Amnesty International because of the squalid conditions and high number of suicides.
The spat is the latest contentious episode in an often-times shambolic court process that has seen Shiver’s trial pushed back multiple times just as it’s poised to begin, the latest date set for March 2025, nearly two years after her arrest.
Wealthy Georgia couple Lindsay and Robert Shiver once had it all – three great kids, a seven-bed mansion, a private jet and a vacation home in Baker’s Bay, an ultra-exclusive Bahamas enclave where the likes of Tom Brady and Michael Jordan own property.
However, former Auburn football star Robert filed for divorce in April 2023 accusing his wife of cheating, while Shiver countered with claims of ‘physical and mentally cruel treatment’.
Three months later she was sensationally charged in the Bahamas with conspiring with her new lover Bethel, 28, to have his childhood pal Newbold, 29, murder Robert.
Shiver had allegedly sent Newbold Jr. pictures of her estranged husband of 13 years drinking in a bar near Baker’s Bay – along with a WhatsApp message stating ‘kill him‘.
Bethel joined Shiver in telling Good Morning America during the October 3 interview that the trio are completely innocent of a murder-for-hire plot
Bethel and alleged would-be hitman Faron Newbold (right) were pictured outside Bahamas Magistrate’s Court in Nassau last November
The case also hinges on a disputed ‘confession’ in which she admitted to cops that she told Bethel she ‘wanted to kill’ Robert and that Bethel ‘understood’ and ‘wanted to kill him also.’
In the same police interview, however, Shiver insisted that any talk of killing was merely ‘said out of anger and frustration’, according to prosecution documents obtained by DailyMail.com.
When Bahamian authorities informed Robert of the alleged threat, he branded his wife ‘manipulating’ and accused her of having multiple affairs, according to the docs.
‘If something were to happen to me Lindsay would receive loads of money,’ added the dad-of-three, who flew back to the US while his ex spent 19 days locked up in Fox Hill.
Shiver was eventually released on $100,000 bail and given permission to return to the US to live in Alabama with an electronic ankle tag monitoring her movements.
She, Bethel and Newbold face up to 60 years in prison if they are found guilty.
But prosecutors will have to persuade a jury that the messages represented a genuine plot against him – rather than the three friends merely letting off steam.
Shiver, who was in the midst of a divorce, was arrested in July 2023 for allegedly plotting to take out husband Robert as he vacationed at his family’s home in the Bahamas’ sun-steeped Abaco Islands
Shiver enters a courtroom in Nassau, Bahamas on August 9, 2023
Robert is still living at the couple’s marital home in Thomasville, Georgia, where their hostile divorce and custody battle has stalled because of the Nassau proceedings.
It could be a long wait as criminal cases are frequently plagued by delays in the overburdened Bahamian justice system where it typically takes three years or longer to make it to trial.
Alabama native Shiver graduated from Auburn University, where the two met in 2007 while Robert was captain of the football team.
Robert signed with the Atlanta Falcons as a free agent but was let go in roster cuts ahead of the 2009 season and eventually became executive vice president for a life insurance company.
He’s currently dating reality TV star Savannah Chrisley, 27, and has never spoken publicly about his estranged wife.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com in August 2023, Bethel declared his love for Shiver and said her marriage was on the rocks long before he came on the scene.
‘None of us have anything to hide. People are taking everything at face value and defaming us,’ he told us.
