Kristen Lindsey case: District Attorney could prosecute on a lesser charge bypassing Grand Jury

My apologies for hammering away at the Kristen Lindsey case but it needs to be revisited and reinvigorated so that justice is done. At present, to many people, it appears that justice is waiting to be done. The Grand Jury came up with the decision not to prosecute Lindsey but we don’t know what evidence was presented to them (except that it wasn’t the full, available evidence) and it is up the District Attorney (DA) to decide what evidence is presented to a Grand Jury.

Scales of Justice Kristen Lindsey case

Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats

The outcome of a Grand Jury is in the hands of the DA and the public has no right to know what happened and how good a job the DA did or if he presented biased evidence to the jury. There is an application to see the evidence in the Lindsey case but the outcome of that is uncertain. The public cannot appeal Grand Jury decisions. They are final. It is astonishing that they cannot be appealed. In the UK Grand Juries were abolished in 1933 and today a decision by the Crown Prosecution Service (the CPS) can be reviewed and overturned; a much more flexible and secure process, I feel.

How do we get the DA to take another look at the Kristen Lindsey case? It is extremely difficult to find a way forward. Thanks to the excellent work by TIGER’S JUSTICE TEAM we know that full evidence was not presented to the Grand Jury.

We know that the charge against her was a felony (a more serious charge than a misdemeanour). As I understand it the charge would have been under Texas criminal code:

Sec. 42.092. CRUELTY TO NONLIVESTOCK ANIMALS

(b) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly:

(2) without the owner’s effective consent, kills, administers poison to, or causes serious bodily injury to an animal;

This is a state felony and the decision to proceed to prosecution by trial has to go to a Grand Jury.

However, the DA can proceed on his own and prosecute a person through the criminal courts bypassing the Grand Jury if Lindsey is charged with a lesser offence, a misdemeanour.

Under the Texas criminal code, the following offence is a misdemeanour:

(b) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly:

6) without the owner’s effective consent, causes bodily injury to an animal;

In other words if Lindsey is charged with causing bodily injury to the cat called Tiger, then the DA’s office could take her to court.

This begs the question whether this can be done at this stage. I don’t see an obstacle to it. It is a fresh charge. It is something new. Also the principle of double jeopardy does not apply in this instance as the matter has not be tried in a criminal court..

Cats deserve to live

Is a charge of causing bodily harm viable? I believe it is. Firstly, a lot of people have been saying that Tiger was alive after he was shot with the arrow. If his death was not instantaneous, then it could be argued he suffered bodily harm. It may not even be relevant that he was alive for a while after being shot with the arrow. It is clearly beyond doubt that he suffered bodily harm which caused death.

The other obstacles to a successful prosecution have, I believe, been cleared away and therefore the DA should be encouraged to re-charge Lindsey with this lesser offence.

If the DA fails to exercise his discretion on the lesser charge a writ of mandamus issued out of the state’s supreme court can be served on him to force him to act.


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16 thoughts on “Kristen Lindsey case: District Attorney could prosecute on a lesser charge bypassing Grand Jury”

  1. I would like to thank all the people that are still staying hard at work on the Justice For Tiger Case and keepings us all informed and up to date. I live for the day that I can wake up one day (soon I could only hope and pray) that Keistin Lindsey will be rotting away in a prison. I hope and pray that she answers to the higher court and truely pays for the murderous injustice she dealt upon poor Tiger..Forever in our hearts luv ya Tiger

    Reply
    • Thank you Patricia for your comment. There are a lot of people like you who are looking for justice and you are trying hard to get it.

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  2. The DA could have conducted a complete investigation and charged her from the start, but he didn’t and I’m pretty sure he won’t. He has the ability but not the will. I commend you Michael, for posting more on what could be done legally.

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    • I agree. The DA has complete authority over this. He doesn’t want to prosecute because if he did there is plenty of evidence to charge Lindsey.

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      • Exactly, Michael. Tiger’s ‘just a cat’, and the DA probably knows Lindsey’s family. You and I and everyone with common sense out here knows his assertion that there is insufficient evidence is just a cover. The DA’s office tap danced all over the place, even implied that the killing of the cat didn’t happen in Texas, so that lets him off the hook. He just didn’t want to be bothered.

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        • It is a dereliction of duty and if only we could sanction the DA the world would be a better place. There should be calls for his resignation or something similar. Of course I am dreaming.

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  3. I agree with the lesser but included. The only difference is she, if she is prosecuted, and if convicted, she will serve up to a year in county jail rather than a state prison. But what about charging her with a “wobbler” that way it can be either felony or misd. If the D.A. does not charge her with at least a misd. he is on the take. Someone is lining his pockets with something and he needs to removed from office. A petition to charge her with a misd needs to
    done, along with the as many signatures as possible. I believe keeping on him is the only way for this to be justified in a small way. There is no true justice that can bring Tiger back. His memory is all we can keep, and that is a shame thanks to Ms. Lindsey.

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    • Thanks Chris for supporting the idea. I agree the sentence will be lighter but at this stage with the Grand Jury issuing a no-bill it seems that the only way to restart the prosecution is on the lesser charge.

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  4. Michael, Thank you for continuing to update us in this case of unprovoked killing of Tiger, a pet cat, by Kristen Lindsey, a vet who prides herself on killing rather than healing.

    I hope that some justice is done. I also hope that her dreams are filled with nightmares of Tiger coming back for revenge, causing mental and emotional anquish.

    Reply

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