Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Accused wife-killer lawyer Tex McIver: Witness tampering?

Episode Date: June 9, 2017

Prominent Atlanta lawyer Tex McIver, accused in the shooting death of his wife, is allegedly using the jail telephone to influence witnesses in the murder case against him. McIver also called a judge���s wife hoping she would help him get out on bond, according to the Fulton County, Georgia, prosecutor. Nancy Grace talks with lawyer Renee Rockwell about the McIver case, which has rocked the Atlanta legal community. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Sitting in the backseat of a car, holding a pistol when it accidentally went off and shot his wife. According to the indictment, McIver told Danny Jo Carter, the woman who was driving the couple that night, to tell the police that she wasn't there. The indictment also says that McIver told his spokesperson he was holding a gun that night because he was afraid of Black Lives Matter protests. This is Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Prosecutors believe Diane McIver had a secret updated will that text McIver is hiding. They also believe that secret will might provide evidence of motive in her death. There's no financial motive. There's no jealousy. There's absolutely no motive. She is dead. She was beautiful, educated, had closets and closets of clothes and shoes and bags from all over the world. I mean, I'm embarrassed just sitting here in my same old running shorts.

Well, they're actually knee-tights. My tennis shoes and my same old running shorts. Well, they're actually knee tights. My tennis shoes and my brave shirt. This woman was absolutely stunning in every way. Not only that, she was a businesswoman without compare because she ran an incredible business, very successful, no idiot by any stretch, and she's dead. What happened? Well, according to her husband, a prominent lawyer, he fell asleep in the back seat as

they were driving home and whoops, pulled the trigger and shot her in the back seat as they were driving home. And whoops! Pulled the trigger and shot her in the back. Am I supposed to actually believe that? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. With me is renowned defense attorney Renee Rockwell. In court when that husband, the lawyer Tex McIver, showed up to plead not guilty. Hey, Renee, it didn't really help when he had that fancy garage sale, or as the rich people call it, what was it, a consignment by invitation only,

i.e. a garage sale for all of his wife's stuff. She was barely cold in the grave he raised over a million dollars for that sale as i understand raised a million dollars for the sale what did he do with the with the money i would imagine nancy that he is spending it on this fabulous defense team you know ex-judge william hill is one of the players on his defense oh yeah you just had to get to me at the very beginning because i practiced with along with bill hill when he was in the ag's office and i practiced in front of him when he became a judge and out of that that whole defense team, that defense team, McIver has assembled. He is the one that could pull this out.

Not only is he an incredible legal scholar, he has a way with people. You know, he just gets it. So he's the one that should strike fear in the hearts of the prosecution. But, Renee, this is one of the reasons you're so good. You successfully dodged what I brought up, the garage sale of all of his wife's stuff before she was even cold in the grave. And you seem to make it seem like it's okay because he raised a million dollars. That doesn't really help anything, Renee, that he made a million dollars off of his dead wife's

pan bags. Nancy, it's certainly not anything they're going to be able to use against him in a murder case. I'd use it. I would totally use it to show frame of mind. But you would use everything? Yeah, you darn right I'd use everything.

You got one swing at the ball, one bite of the apple. Yeah. I'd go into what you call overkill because i would want the truth to come out in front of this jury you don't get a do-over what you know what hold on i'll get into all that in a moment but first renee you were in court at the time of the not guilty plea tell me everything don't leave anything out obviously he pled not guilty but the important part of yesterday's hearing is he has been in jail now for 43 days today. He was out on bond, and his bond was revoked.

His bond was revoked because condition of his bond was that he surrender all firearms. Now, you well know, Nancy, that the district attorney's office, not the police department, but the district attorney's office decided to execute another search warrant at his home, presumably looking for another will. I think the state, Nancy, is still looking for a motive for the death. Wait, why do they have to look for a motive why do they need a motive a the state doesn't have to prove a motive although you're right juries like to hear why but what about all that money she was the money bag she was the money bag but presumably he's using it along with her but back to the search warrant Nancy she has a he has an assistant that's helping the home, assisting the investigators from the district

attorney's office to look through the home for presumably papers, possibly another will wherein she may have changed her will, they go in his sock drawer and what is in the sock drawer? A firearm. And based on that, they freeze the scene, go and get another search warrant, because the search warrant, the initial search warrant is for papers. The second search warrant is for a firearm, and based on them viewing that firearm in the sock tour, Nancy, his bond was revoked.

Yesterday's hearing was so that he could get back out on bond. Judge McBurney has not decided that yet. He's taken it under advisement, but that was the plan of the Dream Team yesterday to get the client back and fight the case from the streets instead of 901 Wright Street. Hold on. Hold on. Okay. Hold on. Hold on. Okay. The street. Fight from the street.

I mean, you make it sound like we're, you know, fighting World War II at Normandy. The street, my rear end, he lives in an exclusive high-rise. you couldn't have more luxury if you wanted it so that that's not exactly the mean street the book kid ah don't don't start up with me about him fighting from the street and i tell you another thing if he were not a rich white member of the Atlanta Bar. Okay. This would not even, we wouldn't even be talking about him getting back out on bond. He was out on bond, which he should not have been

to start with. That's my two cents that nobody asked. But he got out on bond. Then he was caught with another gun. I mean, how many guns does this guy have?

I mean, he killed his wife with a gun. Now he's caught with another gun. I mean, how many guns does this guy have? I mean, he killed his wife with a gun. Now he's caught with another gun after they've confiscated all his guns. So why should I even entertain him getting back out on bond? But somehow they got another hearing on him getting back on bond. And I imagine the judge didn't rule immediately because they want to hush, hush, hush it. And that at some point down the road in a couple of weeks when nobody's watching, they'll let him back out on bond. So don't worry about that. He'll be back up in his plush man cave in no time. Yeah, I'm watching. You darn right I'm watching. Blue Apron is the number one fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in our country.

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Whoa, I'm on it. Can we get back to what matters? The not guilty plea. Back to the courtroom. So they come in and what happens? Nancy. Yes. This, as you know, for any defendant, is the most important thing. Just get me out on bond. Get me out on bond. And I'll say one thing if you want to leave this point.

I want to say one thing if you want to leave this point. I want to say one thing. Robert McBurney, the judge in this case, is not worried about him fleeing. Flight was not a concern with him. He doesn't think he's going to run. He doesn't think he's going to take the money and go to some location where he can't be apprehended and brought back for trial. That is not the problem. The problem is the issues that the judge wants addressed are safety and whether or not he's trying to influence or intimidate any witness. I'm so glad you said that. I'm so glad. He's already tried to tamper with witnesses, according to the documents.

That's the case, but there's one thing that is going to be appropriately discussed at the time of the trial, whether he was trying to intimidate a witness, whether he was trying to make them change their minds on what their testimony was, or whether or not he was suggesting what actually happened nancy oh you mean when he said will you please quit giving statements that indicate i'm guilty that that that one will you please quit talking about what happened that night can you not say that anymore you mean those statements exactly Nancy Renee what exactly is is alleged that he did to try and influence witnesses exactly I don't want to misrepresent anything because I am not looking at the exact report and the statement but it does have something to do with whether or not they've told their story once to the police,

and then there may have been some communication between MacGyver and these witnesses before they went back to be re-questioned. So I'll leave it at that. Alan? He allegedly made phone calls to witnesses from jail, and of course we all know that telephone calls in jail are recorded and so a lawyer should know that. Let's get right down to it. In court the assistant DA who is also a longtime friend of both Renee and myself that I actually trained when he came to the DA's office. Clint Rucker is a fine, fine prosecutor. He said in court, as Alan just reported, three recent phone calls were recorded from jail. In one, he speaks about providing a car to a potential witness and in another phone call soliciting a favor from a judge. As Rucker points out, quote, he's a very smart man.

He's very well connected. He has financial resources to reach out to people who can have influence over what happens to him. McIver is the former Republican donor and vice chairman of the State Board of Elections. Accusations were made during the arraignment on charges that he shot his wife, Diane McIver, while they were driving near Piedmont Park. He has pled not guilty. But there were other issues that happened regarding tampering with or influencing witnesses. When he was out before his bond was revoked and he was still out,

he was making phone calls and stating to witnesses to stop talking. To stop talking because they were making him look guilty. Renee, Renee, that is tampering with a witness. To tell somebody to stop talking, I don't know about that, Nancy. Stop gossiping, stop doing this, stop doing that. If he is calling somebody and telling and intimidating somebody and saying, I need you to say X instead of Y or Z, and presumably X is not the truth, then that's one thing. But if he says, stop talking about me, you're making me look guilty, I don't know that that rises to the level of a criminal offense.

Okay, you know what? I agree with you on that. More troubling is, according to the charging documents, Tex MacGyver, the defendant, instructed Patricia Danny Jo Carter, the woman who was driving the car that night, he instructed her, according to the documents, to tell police she was not there at the time of the shooting. That is in the charging documents. Now, that will be a simple matter of putting the witness, Danny Jo Carter, on the stand. Presumably, she will say what she told police. He said that is going to be tampering

with a witness. Now, less than two weeks later, October 6th, the indictment itself states, McIver leaves a voicemail with Danny Joe Carter's husband, Thomas, asking him to stop his wife from, quote, communicating her recollection of the facts and circumstances of the death of Diane McIver to law enforcement because those statements placed the defendant at risk of immediate incarceration. Then he asked Thomas Carter to delete the voicemail. He also, according to the indictment, asked the spokesperson, Bill Crane, to retract a statement he had made to the media, Renee, and that statement had to do with him claiming he opened fire, pulled out the gun because he was afraid of Black Lives Matters. And the gun went off when they hit a bump. Okay. So he asked Crane to retract that

after he had already told Crane that's what happened. So what do you think about those? Is there a way around those statements? Nancy, there's an even more unusual one, and only someone like MacGyver could pull this one off. According to Rucker, the prosecutor, MacGyver called from jail, called Ann Schwal. She's the ex-wife of a Fulton County Superior Court Judge, Craig Schwal. They happen to be the godparents of MacGyver's child, and suggested that she call her ex-husband, quote, all he needs to do is make a phone call. I can be out of here the next day. In other words, he was reaching out to this judge friend to help him get bond. And the lawyer for MacGyver explained that he was not influencing. He was, quote, just venting during

that phone call. Just venting, not tampering. Oh, Renee, I did not know. Alan just told me something new. You and I both. Okay, let me tell you a funny story. Okay. Renee, do you remember when you and I, of course, this was not on the same case, because I would never, ever try a case against you, because we're, you know, best friends from way back. So, you and I were in Judge Wofford's chambers, and his secretary, his assistant, had a hot plate, which they later caught the chambers on fire with, I think. But long story short, we were having their famous Russian tea. Translation, Lipton instant tea with tang or something in it. I don't know what that was, but we would drink it and sit back there and talk,

waiting for court to start. Do you remember all those times we sat back there okay do you remember renee of course and we were back there talking you and i about judge wofford insisted on driving to court every morning and he'd drive his truck up on the sidewalk he couldn't see a thing now do you remember the time? He had to be, I guess, 85 years old. He tried to kiss me on the cheek, and he missed and kissed me on the knee, the kneecap. Do you remember that? I remember the kneecap. Oh, my stars. Okay, wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait, wait. wait okay so the way that happened was

okay I was sitting beside him he was at his desk of course we didn't have any cases in front of him he was a retired judge and occasionally he would come in and and accept guilty pleas that had been negotiated if another judge was you know in the middle of a jury trial. And I was sitting right beside him. We were both seated, and he leaned over to kiss me on the cheek and missed and hit the kneecap, and he kissed it. I don't ever even know if he knew it was my kneecap or if he thought it was my, I don't know what he thought. Anyway, long story short, that is when I first met, now, Judge Craig Schwall.

Schwall was, I don't know what his position was then. He was not a judge, but he was in the courthouse all the time. He's a very good lawyer. And I remember one day he came into Judge Wofford's chambers, and I met him for the first time. Very likable, very smart, great guy. Now he's a judge and now he's gotten dragged into all this. And let me make it clear, he had nothing to do with Judge Wofford kissing me on the knee. That was a whole nother incident. I just happened to be

in Wofford's Chambers the day I met Craig Schwall. Do you remember him as a practicing lawyer, Renee? I absolutely do, and also his father. Very prominent attorneys, both in their own right. Now his father still practices. And since you're mentioning Judge Schwal, I will say this, Nancy, that Robert McBurney said after the hearing or at the conclusion of the hearing, he said, I want it very clear that Craig Schwal has not called me, has not mentioned anything to me, has not alluded. There has been, in other words, Nancy, no innuendo from Judge Schwal to Judge McBurney to let MacGyver out on bond. You know, another thing about Schwal and McBurney,

I've never heard a bad thing about either one of them. I've never heard McBurney was partial to one side or the other. What's McBurney's background? Is he a former prosecutor or a former defense lawyer what what is he what's his background McBurney? Nancy McBurney's background is he was a district attorney in the same office where you prosecuted Fulton County District Attorney's office then he went on to be a federal prosecutor for several years and was a high-ranking prosecutor and has now become a member of the Fulton County Superior Court bench. A couple of doors down from Judge Falk. Well, then he is no idiot.

He's no idiot, neither is Schwal. Okay, so bottom line, it's like pulling a tooth with Renee Rockwell. You know, I'm just a JD. I'm not a DDS. I'm not a dentist. I think what she's saying is there are a lot of issues at trial, and this is just the beginning. Okay, Renee Rockwell, friend and opponent, thank you for being with us. I'm Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.