A man charged with shooting at the mother of his children in a 2021 car chase said Thursday officials have it wrong, and she is the one who shot at him.
Torrey Lindsay, 39, or Manhattan is charged with attempted first-degree murder for shooting at his then-girlfriend, Kaleigh Dooley, 37, of Manhattan, on Oct. 10, 2021. Dooley says Lindsay tried to run her off the road and shot at her through the passenger- and driver-side windows.
On Thursday, the defense presented its case before Judge Kendra Lewison in Riley County District Court.
But Lindsay testified in court on Thursday that Dooley is the one who shot at him. He said Dooley approached him on the highway from behind “real quick” and drove alongside him. He said he saw Dooley’s driver-side window shattered and sped up to get away.
County prosecutor Trinity Muth played a video from Riley County police Sgt. Jared Hayes’ body camera from the morning he arrested Lindsay near Miller Parkway on Kansas Highway 18. Lindsay yelled at Hayes that he was the one who had been shot at. Hayes told him he wanted to handcuff everyone until “everything gets figured out.”
In the video, Lindsay was talking on the phone with his brother and two other people while in handcuffs.
“Kaleigh shot at me on K-18,” he said in the video.
Muth said he counted “over a dozen times” that Lindsay said in the video Dooley shot at him. Speaking from the witness stand, Hayes said Lindsay changed his account at the end of the video.
“I believe there was one time where he said he wasn’t sure if she shot at him,” Hayes said.
Hayes said Lindsay appeared to be “excited” and “shaken up” because of the incident. Hayes later said it is not uncommon for testimonies to change after initial reports.
Lindsay repeated to detectives that Dooley made a gun motion toward him, and he didn’t know if she had shot at him. It wasn’t clear whether he saw her holding a gun.
The defense also questioned the legitimacy of gunshot residue police collected on Lindsay’s inner car door and on his face. The defense attorney showed officer Mark Cusimano’s body camera as he performed the residue test kit because it appeared he might have made contact with a computer.
Sitting at a desk in front of a computer, Cusimano dabbed in front of the screen. The manager concluded that Cusimano didn’t make contact.
Cusimano testified, insisting that he “absolutely did not” touch the screen. He simply wanted to show fellow employees how the procedure is performed. The defense said he swabbed the computer and then found residue on Lindsay’s face.
Lindsay and his lawyer complained about no body camera footage of the swabs made on the Chevy Tahoe Lindsay drove.
“There’s no visual proof of him doing that like there’s visual proof of him doing everything else,” Lindsay said to Muth during cross examination.
Lindsay’s brother bought the vehicle at a police auction. Lindsay said wires hung out and dirt were on the seats and floors. The defense used this to show the possibility of cross contamination to the gunshot residue found in the car.
His brother said the floors were vacuumed and he “wiped” the seats down, but clarified it was never “professionally detailed” to Muth.
During Muth’s questioning, the brother said the cloth seats were replaced with leather and the doors were removed to finish remodeling.
The county prosecutor questioned Linday’s friend and former motorcycle club member, Danny Borders. The Redline Riders have six chapters across the United States. One is in Radcliff, Kentucky. Police dogs found a gun, a .22-caliber silver Derringer that came from that city, 42 feet from K-18.
“I’ve been to Radcliff once in my life,” Lindsay said. “You can’t associate that gun with me.”
Lindsay also took issue with Dooley’s knowledge of the gun he allegedly used to shoot at her. Dooley thought the gun’s color included black with cream handles. However, the gun found by the dogs had a pearl handle with a silver primary tint.
“That’s a pretty big mistake for her to say I had a black gun and pearl handle that I carry with me all the time and in my car,” Lindsay said.
Kimberly Jones, who lives along K-18, said she saw the alleged shooting from her apartment balcony. The defendant expressed his concern about the witness’ testimony on Monday. Lindsay asked, “How do we know Dooley doesn’t know who Kimberly Jones is?”
After Lindsay answered questions with questions multiple times, Lewison interjected.
“I’m sorry,” Lewison said. “That’s just how it works; he gets to ask the questions, and you answer. You don’t get to ask questions.”
The prosecution mentioned that in Judge William Malcolm’s court in April 2022, where the court decided to modify the charges from attempted second-degree murder to attempted first-degree murder, he shouted at Dooley.
Corrections officers Seth Wilson and Bruce Eagles said in their reports Lindsay stood up and faced Dooley and Muth’s table and said, “Shut up. Stop crying.”
The prosecution has to prove premeditation for a jury to convict someone of attempted first-degree murder. Muth asked Wilson and Eagles to review their reports from the incident following the emotional outburst in the court room.
The officers said they escorted Lindsay to the elevator down the hall to be transported back to Riley County jail. Wilson and Eagles reported everything they heard Lindsay say.
“I was focused on getting him on the elevator,” Eagles said. “He said something to the effect of, ‘Someone should kill that b**** and Trinity Muth.’”
Wilson, who wrote his report separately from Eagles, wrote a more specific account.
“Should’ve killed that b****,” Wilson said he heard Lindsay shout. “They gave that white b**** everything she wanted.”
Lindsay did not deny making the statements but said he felt that way because he lost custody of his children and couldn’t even visit them.
The jury is expected to make a decision on Friday.
