48 Hours - The Last Ride Home

Episode Date: April 29, 2018

A wealthy labor lawyer shoots his high profile wife from the backseat of a car -- was it an accident or just plain murder? "48 Hours" correspondent Maureen Maher investigates.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. I loved you before this ceremony and I love you more because of it. You may kiss your bride. They were inseparable. Tex absolutely adored Diane and Diane adored Tex.

I feel like the prosecution has tried to make this out to be about someone who is successful and powerful trying to get away with something like murder. They don't know Tex and Diane personally like I do. A woman died after she was shot inside a car on this block. I'm a reporter with the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and we've been covering the Tex McIver case since day one. This was an enormously high profile case. They were a big time power couple.

Here you have the vice chair of the state elections board, who's a prominent Atlanta lawyer. You have this strikingly beautiful, incredibly successful businesswoman. We're going to have plenty of beverages over here, so just everybody start walking, please. Tex Under Ranch out in Putnam County, which is a pretty nice place for a vacation home. They woke up that morning.

Tex made sausage biscuits and coffee and took them upstairs to Diane and Danny Jo, her longtime friend. They spend the afternoon playing golf, and they drive back to Atlanta. They're on their way back to their condo in Buckhead. They stop on the way at Longhorn to get something to eat. They have some wine at dinner. Danny Joe is driving because she didn't drink.

My name is Bruce Harvey, and I represent Tex McIver. Danny is driving. Diane is seated in the passenger seat. Tex is seated right behind his wife in the back passenger seat. They're going to hit traffic that just stops them still. So they're thinking, we've got to get off of the interstate. We've got to find a better way to get to Buckhead. According to Tex, he had been asleep, but when they go down this ramp, he wakes up.

And says, I think this is a bad idea, ladies. It's a dangerous area. Will you hand me my gun, honey? And she does. I'd say they drove another five to ten minutes, and they are coming close to Piedmont Park. He fell back asleep. I think he fell into what he said was sort of a between being fully asleep and being fully awake. According to text, the car comes to a stop. He was jolted awake.

I was handling the gun and I realized it was in my lap. Right. And it went off. Okay. Can a.38 Special just accidentally go off? Never known it to happen. You have to pull the trigger. Chimney. Ooh.

The gun would be right here in his lap, according to what he said. So he was startled. He pulls the trigger, and the bullet goes just to the left of the middle here. If you're trying to kill someone, you know that's going to be devastating to whoever's sitting there. Especially if you're trying to make it look like an accident. Yes, I would think so, yes.

I think there are people who absolutely believe that he killed his wife for whatever reason, probably for money. People get killed over money all the time. That's the dumbest plan on the history of the planet. And anybody that thinks that that is the way that Tex McIver deliberately killed his wife is just living in a fantasy world. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn,

and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reached the age of 10 that was still a virgin. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with.

In the Pitcairn trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of Sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing The Best Idea Yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bold risk takers who brought

them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time, only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye? Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal first came from a mom in Guatemala? From Pez dispensers to Levi's 501s to Air Jordans, discover the surprising stories of the most viral products. Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on

the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. On the night of September 25, 2016, Tex McIver shot and killed his wife, Diane. They'd been together for 16 years, married for 11 years. I remember the first time I ever met Diane. She just had such a commanding presence about her. According to close friend Anne Schwall, Diane was the love of Tex's life. She was beautiful, and there was such an energy and electricity about her. The year was 2000.

47-year-old Diane was recently divorced with no children and a thriving career as the executive vice president of a real estate and advertising company. In search of a fresh start, she moved into this luxurious condominium in Atlanta's swanky neighborhood, Buckhead. Everyone in the building was talking about her. Why? She had a way about her. Linda and Rance Winkler say their new neighbor

was hard to miss. She wore St. John and Chanel on the golf course. She wore hats just about every day, and she had a presence and a way of carrying herself. But, says Linda, no one paid more attention to Diane than another popular divorcee in the building, wealthy labor lawyer Tex McIver. Before he met Diane, did he have a love life that you knew of or a dating life? No. He was so consumed with his work. There were a lot of women who were very interested in him having a dating life, but he'd been through a very painful, difficult divorce. It wasn't until Diane came along that he was interested in having a romantic life.

But Diane was less than interested in Tex. Tex did everything he could think of to try and get her attention. He would call me and he'd say, I've left notes on the windshield of her car. I've left notes get her attention. He would call me and he'd say, I've left notes on the windshield of her car. I've left notes under her door. I'm not getting anywhere. What was her objection? I think she just was very busy.

And I think she was coming out of a relationship that had been problematic, but they hit it off. Tex was a decade older than Diane but they soon became inseparable spending much of their free time at Texas weekend home fondly known as the ranch. Where the couple was known for throwing parties for Atlanta's rich and powerful says friend and Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills. They were big entertainers. They were always having somebody there for some kind of party

or some kind of political thing like that. We have had the best yet party. Diane was always the life of the party. She was always the boss of the party, too. Tex was usually very reserved, a consummate gentleman. If a lady walked in the room, he was up like a jack-in-the-box. After five years together, Diane agreed to become Mrs. Tex McIver. He cared about her, which was probably the very first time she had that experience in a lot of years.

He didn't need her. That somebody cared about her? For her. Just for her? Just for her. Not for her money. He had as much as she. In fact, in terms of liquid assets, he was further along than she. So, having both suffered through painful and expensive divorces, the couple decided to keep their finances separate. I don't know anyone actually who's combined their assets having married at the age that

they married. And you have to remember that Tex had this terrible, painful, expensive divorce, and he was never going to put himself in a situation like that was there an issue of money between them not in the conventional sense but when they started building this place you can see this place you see what it's like show place yes linda is talking about this guest house on texas property before the wedding, they say Diane insisted on building the massive party house that she named The Saloon. Tex really didn't want all this. Diane wanted it. The scale of it. And he told her that if she wanted it, she would pay for it. And she said fine. But money, and who paid for what in that relationship, would come back to haunt Tex,

becoming a possible motive for murder. Is there any scenario where you can think that Tex would have shot Diane intentionally? Never. Never once. Ann Schwal says she admired Diane and Tex so much that she asked them to be godparents to her youngest son, Austin. They just adored him, and they just poured so much love into him. Tex was all the family Diane had, and after his divorce, he was estranged from two of his children.

Too old for children of their own, Ann says they focused all their attention on Austin. I just wanted so much to show him all the great things that he could do and how he could grow up and be such a responsible young man. Teaching him how to ride horses and how to fish and how to be a good steward of the land and of animals. And how did Austin feel about them? Oh, he adored them. The ranch was their special place. And every year, it's where Tex and Diane insisted on hosting extravagant birthday parties for Austin. Happy birthday, Austin!

Happy birthday! I hope you have a great birthday. The birthday parties were legendary. A sign of how much they loved him. Tell me when you heard about what happened. So he called me. It was in the middle of the night. And as soon as I heard his voice, and he said, we lost Diane.

And my immediate reaction was, how am I going to tell Austin? Ann says Austin never once blamed Tex for Diane's death. He actually was just really worried about, you know, how Tex was doing. He's never said I didn't shoot her. He's never said I didn't shoot her. He's never said I didn't kill my wife. He is profoundly regretful. He talked to me a couple of weeks ago, and he said, it's like I smell her,

and I break down, I cry. It was all a tragic accident, according to Tex's defenders. But here's the biggest problem. No one, including Tex, can explain how his gun went off and killed his wife. He doesn't remember. Even to this day, he doesn't know exactly how it went off. We just asked him that day before yesterday. He still cannot give an answer to exactly what happened.

Who do you remember after the death of his mom? Jader, the shock. Two days after Diane's death, Tex and his then-lawyer met with Atlanta Police Department homicide detectives. I immediately called out and said, is everybody all right? And Danny Joe said yes. And Diane's head was kind of flatted. She said, I've been shot.

As detectives set out to investigate the shooting of Diane McIver, they focused on their best witness. You ever taken any, like, safety glasses or anything like that? No, I was in the military. I don't worry about it at all. And they focused on their best piece of evidence. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups

within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informants Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery

app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in the Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman? Now, we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear, but did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder?

I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're going to talk to the people who were there. And we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women.

Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, wherever you get your podcasts. Here we are in a almost new SUV, two women in a front seat. I said, yeah, I'd like, if you don't mind, please hand me my gun. There is no doubt that Tex McIver pulled the trigger on the gun that killed his wife, Diane. The question is why. Was he asleep as he said he was, and he was jolted awake and pulled the trigger,

or did he want to kill his wife? Reporter Bill Rankin hosts a podcast about the McIver case for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is a 48 Hours consultant on the case. Using a similar car, Rankin showed us how the bullet that killed Diane McIver traveled through the passenger seat of Texas' SUV. It hits there.

And it goes from right to left through the seat. And exits out here. Right. On the left side. And goes down slightly downward path through his wife's body. The bullet went through Diane's left ribcage and diaphragm, severed a vein and artery in her spleen,

and then hit several organs, including her left kidney and stomach. And she started breathing funny, and she, you know, kind of passed out. That night, detectives were anxious to hear Danny Joe Carter, the car's driver, explain what Tex did after he shot his wife. All I could think of was seeing the hospital. I thought, I don't know how to get there. And he said, no, Emory is closer. Tex decided to go to Emory University Hospital.

There were four hospitals, all approximately less than five miles from where the shooting is believed to have taken place. Emory was the farthest, at about 4.3 miles. But one of the best trauma centers in all of Georgia, Grady, was only about 3.2 miles away. Anybody who lives in Atlanta knows about Grady Hospital and it's a level one trauma center. There were people who have said that he went to Emory Hospital because it was going to take longer and maybe let her bleed out. Family friend Sheriff Howard Sills, who is not involved in the case,

says no way and explains that Grady just was not on Tex's radar. If you're rich and you're affluent, then you don't want to go to Grady Hospital, because Grady Hospital is where indigent people go. The people in that car that night, they would have thought Emery. This dramatic surveillance footage shows the SUV arriving at Emery's emergency room and Tex helping Diane into a wheelchair.

Then, before surgery, Diane made a critical statement to her doctors. Her husband did not mean to shoot her. She said it was an accident. Two hours later, Diane McIver died on the operating table at 12.49 a.m. Do you want to have the worst feeling in your life?

To be sitting in one of those waiting rooms, two surgeons and scrubs and a chaplain come around the corner and start walking towards you. Now, it was up to detectives to determine, was it truly an accident? Or was it cold-blooded murder? This Smith & Wesson.38 caliber revolver that killed Diane was in the car's center console,

inside a plastic bag, when it was handed to Tex by Diane. We've had some break-ins in our office. In response to that, I had wrapped my gun in a Publix grocery sack. The gun was still in the bag when it went off. The gun was still in the bag? Yeah. I mean, he might have had his finger on the trigger. The first rule of firing a gun is don't put your finger on the trigger until you're ready to pull and you have your target in sight.

Law enforcement analyst and former cop Vincent Hill says a guy like Tax should have known better. Any shooter keeps their finger on the trigger guard until they're ready to pull the trigger. So to wake up out of this sleep, you're startled, your finger's automatically on the trigger, you pull this trigger, and you do one shot. A kill shot, in my mind, it's not likely. Lean into it, cock the weapon. And Hill is not alone in his opinion. That's why I asked former Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Bert Davis to take me out to a gun range not far from Texas Ranch.

I wanted to understand the gun. See how well you're doing? You know, the revolver can be fired two ways. The handgun, which only shoots one bullet at a time, can be fired in two very different ways. Single action or double action. Either way, it does not look good for techs because experts say this gun only goes off if the trigger is pulled. In single action, the shooter pulls back the hammer like this. With the gun already cocked in this position, it hardly takes any

effort at all to pull the trigger. It only takes about two pounds of pressure to actually pull the trigger, which is why experienced gun owners say you only cock this gun if you know you are about to use it. No one that I know of would sit there with a gun in single action. A double action is a different story. This gun is not loaded, but I want to show you what happens. In double action, you pull the trigger, and the gun automatically pulls the hammer back, rotates the cylinder, and fires. But it's not easy because it takes about 12 pounds

of pressure to actually pull the trigger, making it much harder to fire it accidentally. It would be difficult. But not impossible. But not impossible. But somehow that gun was fired. And to this day, Tex cannot answer this question. Was the gun in single action or double action?

Good question. Do you have an answer? Do I have an answer? Why do I have to answer these? Why does Tex McIver have to answer anything? Tex's lawyer, Bruce Harvey, is one of Atlanta's most successful and sought-after defense attorneys.

What is your challenge with this gun? Well, I think you just put your finger on it, no pun intended. Clearly, a trigger was pulled, right? The question is, was that a voluntary knowing and intentional action or an involuntary action based upon an accident? But Tex was clearly no stranger to guns. Out at the ranch, he had what many would consider an arsenal of weapons. After Diane's death, Tex asked his buddy, Sheriff Sills, to go out to his

ranch and collect his guns for safekeeping. So you cleared out how many guns? As I recall, it was about 35 guns. Including rifles, handguns, and AR-15s. Would you describe him as a gun guy? Yes and no. Here in the South, everybody's got a lot of guns. We're getting ready to put on a rodeo demonstration with real cows. But the idea that Tex McIver should have known better was about to become a central and recurring theme

for the 75-year-old lawyer. It gets really crazy. I think we've called it a textbook example of what not to do after you kill your wife. Tex McIver recounts for police the moment the gun went off on Facebook at 48 hours. Bruce Harvey was not Tex McIver's first attorney. How did you first hear about it?

It was all over the media. It all started September 24th. Drobbling new information in the shooting death of Diane McIver. Were you surprised? Yeah. I'm surprised to this day. Harvey, who knew texts through mutual friends, says he watched the news coverage for almost a year while McIver made a mess of the case and his reputation. A complete ongoing disaster, mismanaged from day one, resulting in the reason that we're sitting here to start with. It started right after the shooting. Atlanta's media immediately began clamoring for an answer to why on earth Tex had been sitting right behind his wife in his es-

Four days after the shooting, Tex had an explanation in a statement made through a spokesman. He said that we are either carjackers or Black Lives Matter protesters. What do we want? Justice! That gave Tex an air of being rich, white, and oblivious, igniting a real-life bonfire of the vanities. Why would you equate Black Lives Matter protesters with carjackers? Why would you inject race into this?

That put the story into a whole other realm, and it went national because of that. You have this very rich, very powerful white guy in a city that's predominantly black. I think that's why this case is so appealing to the public. As a resident of Atlanta and former patrol officer, Vincent Hill believes that race has played a role in this case, but only in the court of public opinion. It reminds me of 1994 and OJ Simpson. Everything was black and white and we're back in that environment now. You have one demographic that wants to see him go down,

and you have one demographic that doesn't want to see anything happen to Tex. Tex's attorney at the time publicly denied that his client ever said he was afraid of black protesters. But the damage was done, and things were about to get even worse. TBS 46 has an exclusive look tonight at the diamonds, the furs, and the designer bags about to go on auction. This was pretty stunning. Just two months after shooting his wife, Tex started selling off Diane's extensive collection of valuable belongings. Her most expensive jewelry, fur coats, and handbags would go to the highest bidders at an auction.

I understand it was advertised as her stuff. Right. To bring in more buyers. And it wasn't just one auction. It looked like a Nordstrom department store, if not better. The district attorney's office filed motions to block the sales, but a judge denied their requests. And as the executor of Diane's estate, Tex said he had no choice. Why? According to Tex, he said that in her will,

Diane had left a lot of money to some of her employees and some of her friends. So he needed that money to pay them. Now, all that money went into the estate and not to him. But timing in this case was everything. Tax has come under fire for holding the two sales while still at the center of the home. Should it have gone forward at that time? Could it have waited? The answer clearly is yes. And that's something we just have to deal with.

At least Tech still had Danny Joe Carter. Danny Joe was his best witness, the only other person in the car when the gun went off. The night of the shooting, Danny Joe told detectives in no uncertain terms she believed Diane's death was an accident. There is not a doubt in my mind that it was completely one of the trouble accidents. But on February 2nd, 2017, a little over four months after the shooting, Danny Jo changed her story. He's not been nice to me and tried to manipulate me. In a third interview with investigators conducted inside of Tex's SUV, Danny Jo alleged that on the night of the shooting,

Tex told her to lie. He tried to get me to lie, supposedly to protect me from getting all wrapped up in this. Danny Jo said Tex walked up to her and said, why don't you just tell police you weren't in the car? There's no question she was in the car. There's no question she was driving. There's videotape at Emory Hospital. Bruce Harvey concedes that it is possible Tex was just trying to protect his friend. Danny Joe at that particular time was being hounded by the

media. And I think a lot of this effort was to try to allow her to avoid the media crunch. Allow her to avoid the media crunch. Not designed for her not to talk to the police or not to give a particular statement. But there was no media yet at the hospital. There was going to be. Are you saying that Tex may have told her to tell the cops she wasn't in the car so that people would stop hounding her? Yes. So Tex may have told her that? If he did.

But there is no denying this. Days after the shooting, Tex orchestrated a meeting with his lawyers and two reporters, where Danny Joe was to make a legal and public statement that the shooting was an accident. When she was a no-show and stopped taking his calls, Tex left this frantic voicemail for her husband. Let me just be plain. Danny is about to send me to prison. Please erase this voicemail message, but call me right away. Y'all have no idea the problem this is causing.

It's innocent, but it's absolutely nuclear for me. What does that mean? What does it mean? I think it's almost self-explanatory. But it doesn't sound good when he says, please erase this voicemail message, but call me right away. So what does he mean by that?

When we examine, well, we don't have to explain what he means. They have to explain why it is a crime for him to do that or how it relates. Bruce Harvey was still watching from the sidelines when on December 20th, 2016, Tex got some good news. The Atlanta Police Department concluded the shooting was not an intentional act. Based on their findings, the Fulton County District Attorney charged Tex with involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct.

After spending his birthday behind bars, Tex McIver bonds out of jail just before Christmas weekend. But with the case now in the hands of the District Attorney's office, they decided to launch their own investigation into the shooting. There was a bond hearing where the lead prosecutor, Clint Rucker, strongly hinted that they didn't believe it was accidental. That made everyone think, whoa, okay, this is getting even more serious now. Retracing the Night of Diane McIver's Death, online at 48hours.com A little over a week after Tex McIver was charged with involuntary manslaughter, there was more breaking news in this case.

Startling new information in the shooting death of Diane McIver. It's startling new information in the shooting death of Diane McGyver. Our Atlanta affiliate, CBS 46, uncovered evidence that at the time of Diane's death, Tex owed his wife $350,000. He was supposed to pay her back with interest by December of 2014. That never happened. Tech said that the money was Diane's contribution to the construction of that saloon on his ranch, and that, for tax purposes, Diane wanted it to look like a loan. There was $350,000, but it wasn't ever actually going to be paid back by him. The $350,000 was a function of nothing more than taxes. But on paper, it does look like a loan, and one that Tex was expected to pay back.

That could be argued that he didn't want to have to pay that off. Meanwhile, the Fulton County DA's office was looking for a possible motive for murder. When they heard that Diane may have had a second will, subpoenas were obtained to search the couple's financial records. And that's when this happened. During a search of their condo, Tex was found to be violating the terms of his bond with, of all things, possession of a gun. They found a gun in his sock drawer that he probably went to all the time when he was getting dressed and they found it. The condo had already been searched for and cleared of any weapons so the Glock

pistol which he claimed had once belonged to Diane must have been planted. The judge didn't buy it. Mr. MacGyver possessed the gun. I am going Mr. MacGyver, you're on. After four months out on bond, tax was back behind bars when the very next day there was yet another stunning announcement by the DA's office. A grand jury that had been hearing testimony for weeks the murder of his wife. It was surprising that it leapt so far from cruel intentions. Tex would spend the next eight months in jail,

seeing loved ones only through video screen visitations. Hello, Austin, Mommy, how are y'all? And desperately trying to get out on bond again. Well, I love y'all, and I hope to see everybody on Wednesday if things work out. I love you'all, and I hope to see everybody on Wednesday if things work out. I love you, Austin. Then, Bruce Harvey took over the case. I don't believe, I don't believe in my heart of hearts, I don't believe as we're sitting here, that Tex McIver had any deliberate intent to do any harm to his wife.

We're going home. Harvey got Tex released and put on house arrest. Then he set about preparing for trial on a case where there had been one public blunder after another. Are you concerned about being able to seat an impartial jury? Yes, I am. I think Tex has been unfairly vilified in the court of public opinion.

Jury selection in the trial of Tex McIver began on March 5th and took a whole week. Well, today, jury selection got underway in a Fulton County courtroom. And a pool of more than 140 potential jurors. Good morning, everyone. When the trial began, Chief Senior Assistant District Attorney Salita Griffin delivered the state's opening argument. The day that the defendant shot his wife in the back, his life was spinning out of control. And what became fairly clear is that the prosecution believes Tex McIver's motive for murder was money. The easiest way for him to gain control was to kill Diane.

Is money a motive here? No. Very simple answer. He is much worse off without her. I think that is a huge red herring. You know why? Because they've got nothing else. Now, this is a case about maintaining

an image of wealth and power that the defendant created for himself and the lengths that he went through to keep it. All rise for the jury. Testimony in the murder trial of Tex McIver began on March 13th and lasted 20 days. By closing arguments, the jury had heard two very different theories of why Tex McIver shot his wife. I'm going to talk to you about the facts and how what you have heard during this trial proves that this defendant is guilty. Prosecutor Clint Rucker and his team painted an ugly picture of a man who they say was broke

and so desperate for money that he murdered his wife. He was taking her money and he was regaining control. Evidence showed that McIver's salary at his law firm had been cut by more than half, while the state says he was living way beyond his means. And remember, the McIvers kept their finances separate. Remember this email? This is a couple of months before the murder. This is what the defendant says to his wife. I am seriously trying to reduce my monthly expenses. Why?

Because his monthly expenses at the ranch alone were $20,000 to $25,000 a month. What does he say? I plan on hitting the lotto sometime this week. Diane joked that Tex might want to think about becoming their new ranch hand. Read his job description, because that is your next life chapter. This is what he said in response. Oh well, back to

Jigaloy. The state believes that Tex was using Diane for her money. But what drove him to murder is this. Before they were married, Tex borrowed $750,000 from Diane. As payment, the state says he deeded her half of his ranch. What that meant was that now the property was no longer owned solely by the defendant. In 2011, Diane loaned Tex another $350,000. But this time, she made Tex sign a promissory note that gave her the right to foreclose on the ranch if Tex didn't pay up. So when the loan didn't get paid, she said,

I'm going to put another clause in here that says, you know what? It's not that I don't have to wait until you don't pay me. I can foreclose at any time. And as we sit here today, the loan is in default. By killing Diane, the defendant will regain sole ownership of the ranch. The jury heard Danny Joe's claim that Tex asked her to lie. They also heard about the Black Lives Matter statement and the auction. But there was more. They also heard about the Black Lives Matter statement and the auction. But there was more.

They heard what happened to Diane's ashes after she was cremated. Took him 42 days to pick up his wife's remains. That's why I found them. Tucked back in a closet, in a cardboard box. It's just not right. But the defense team told a very different story, a cardboard box. It's just not right. But the defense team told a very different story, a love story.

They were in love. Nobody ever saw them arguing. Nobody ever heard her say, I'm going to foreclose if you don't pay me my money. This is the big one. Bruce Harvey and the defense team tried to show that Tex did not need Diane's money. Tex was not broke, nor was he in dire financial straits. The state's calculation put Tex's net worth at $1.7 million before Diane died.

But what the defense tried hardest to hammer home was that the shooting was nothing but an accident. And remember, that's what Diane said before she died. The three people that were in the vehicle all said it was an accident. And as for the gun? Remember the expert? With the firearm. Harvey used the state's own gun expert to show that anyone can fire the gun accidentally. Remember him demonstrating the weapon and pulling the trigger when he testified right here? You know, there's the trigger. Oops. Oops.

He's demonstrating it for you on the witness stand. He accidentally pulls the trigger. He says, oops. The shooting could not have been premeditated, says the defense, because it was Diane who told Danny Joe to take that exit when they hit traffic. And after Tex was handed his gun, he fell back asleep. The defense also presented an expert who said Tex suffered from a long documented sleep disorder, which might explain why he unintentionally pulled the trigger and can't remember how.

Oftentimes when people arouse from these, they don't arouse quickly. They frequently have amnesia for this. As the case was about to go to the jury, the defense suggested that the state had not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt. We do not convict people in fogs of speculation, but on the bedrock of fact. Diane tried to stand up for herself. bedrock of fact. Diane tried to stand up for herself. And on behalf of the state,

Clint Rucker pleaded with the jury to punish Diane McIver's killer. Who will stand for Diane McIver? A great woman she tried to be. Will you stand for Diane McIver? As she cries out, who will stand for me? The jury deliberated for about 29 hours. At one point, each sat in the back passenger seat of McIver's SUV, holding the gun that killed Diane.

Some of the jurors were actually clicking the trigger, so I think it could have made a huge difference in the outcome of this trial. On their fourth full day of deliberations, the jury sent a note to the judge saying they were deadlocked. We don't see a path to overcome our differences. But the judge told them to try again. Then, just two hours later, they reached a verdict. Was it malice murder, meaning Tex intended to kill Diane?

Felony murder, Tex shot Diane with the intention of causing her bodily harm, but had not intended to kill her. Felony involuntary manslaughter, he acted recklessly, or not guilty. On count one, murder, we find the defendant not guilty. Well, when the jury came back and the foreman read not guilty on malice murder, I was like, oh my goodness. But then they said this. We find the defendant guilty of felony murder. Guilty of felony murder. Tex was clearly stunned. The jury felt that he shot Diane without malice of forethought, but intending to do bodily harm. It might have been a compromise for the jury. It's no compromise for Tex McIver because malice murder and felony murder both carry a life sentence.

A mandatory life sentence. It's a complete tragedy. I mean that closes the circle. Everybody loses. Tex handed over his belt and was handcuffed. Fulton County DA Paul Howard brought it back to the victim, Diane. We would like to say to Diane, we hope that you are watching, and we hope that you felt that we stood for you, and we stood for the things that you represented. But many disagree. She didn't need justice when it's a terrible accident. She's in heaven right now, just heartbroken. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app.

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