Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Did Atlanta lawyer Tex McIver kill his wife for money?

Episode Date: April 28, 2017

Tex McIver claims a fatal bullet in his wife’s back was an accident, but prosecutors charge the Atlanta lawyer with intentionally shooting Diane McIver. The attorney is also accused of asking witnesses to lie to police. His spokesman told reporters the gun was in his lap because he feared being attacked by “Black Lives Matter” demonstrators while driving in midtown Atlanta and he pulled the trigger while napping. Nancy Grace talks with Atlanta lawyer Rene Rockwell about the case in this episode. 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 is dead for no apparent reason. She's gorgeous. She is talented. She's well known. She's got a closet full of clothes, jewelry, shoes, and handbags like nothing you've ever seen in your life. So how did this beautiful, accomplished, successful businesswoman die as she's sitting in her own car, shot in the back? How does that happen? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. And of course,

I'm talking about the beautiful Atlantan Diane McIver. Her husband, a leading Atlanta lawyer, Tex McIver, says it was all just a big accident. Joining me right now in addition to the Duke, Alan Duke, is a very well known local attorney, actually known in multiple jurisdictions, Renee Rockwell. Now, Renee, let's just point out right now that while we practiced in the same courthouse, I never tried a case against you because it would have just broken my heart to stop you dead in the middle of the courtroom, embarrass you, make you cry, make you lose the case in front of all your clients. So we basically would cut deals. Nancy, let me correct you.

We started one. Oh, I know what you're going to say. I remember what you're going to say. Is this the guy with the horrible breath, the horrible breath, and the Coke bottle eyeglasses he was charged with what? Child abuse? Child molestation? Is that the one you're talking about?

No, that is not the one. That's Larry. But do you remember Burdette? We started, we picked the jury, and the next day he didn't show up because he had to walk to the courthouse from, like, Covington, Georgia. It took him two days. You think I believe that crap? I'm going to walk to the courthouse.

Come on, Renee, please don't. Are you still sticking with that sorry story? He hitchhiked to his dope dealer. That's what he did. Wait, what happened to the guy larry with the coke bottle glasses wait i didn't try that or was i just watching what i can't remember anymore no larry and not only did he have the black horn rim glasses but he had the band-aid on the bridge of the glasses wait i didn't try him right no you didn't oh thank you lord in heaven no, I didn't try him, right? No, you didn't. Oh, thank you, Lord in heaven. No,

I didn't. But he went down in flames. I remember taking myself off that case because you were the defense lawyer. I think it's what, it's all starting to come back to me now, Renee. I think I remember exactly what happened. Oh, my stars. Renee, can we now stop talking about people we tried or didn't try? And talk about... Yes, let's talk about Tex McIver. Renee, here's my problem with Tex McIver. He shoots his wife dead, Diane, number one. First of all, he's a lawyer.

He's immediately under suspicion with me. But number two, he shoots his wife dead. He's in the back seat getting driven around by one of their mutual girlfriends, and I mean that in a platonic way, a friend girl. A friend of theirs is driving the car. The wife, Diane, is in the front passenger seat of this SUV. He is in the rear, and for some inexplicable reason, he says he needs to have a loaded gun in his lap as he's driving, as he's riding from his million-dollar ranch in Eatonton, Georgia. Now, Renee, I know exactly where this is because, remember, I was a camp counselor in Eatonton, Georgia at Rock Eagle 4-H Center. So it's a beautiful country.

So he's down there in Putnam County. And for whatever reason, they're coming back. And whoops! His wife is dead. Renee, he's changed his story three times. Help me out. Okay, number one, you never tell any kind of story to any investigator at all. What happens is you end up painting yourself into a corner. He's already done it.

Or as we like to say, he done done it. He has already sent a spokesperson. Yeah, he should know better, but he does labor law, which is a far cry from criminal law. Renee, he got some friend of the family to be his spokesperson and fed him some lines, and then the family friend comes out and is immediately attacked by the media because the story doesn't make any sense. So that cow has left the barn, Renee Rockwell. Okay, now what makes no sense is the state's motive. Don't need a motive. Don't need a motive don't need a motive and that but the jurors of fulton county and hopefully they keep this trial in fulton county the jurors in fulton county are not going to appreciate some motive that he killed his wife because he owed her $350,000 at the time of her death.

Oh, well, okay, that kind of stuck in my throat. Now, did you say $350,000 he owed her? How do you owe your bride $350,000? I can tell you how. It was a loan. I'll tell you how. Because she has this very, very successful marketing firm. Didn't she do Cary, C-A-R-E-Y, Limo?

She worked really hard, and she made millions of dollars. And let's just say, they ain't newlyweds. The bloom is off the rose, Renee. I mean, you, of all people, know better than that. Now, I cannot comment on my current husband, because we are happily wed. You, however, have a few discards. Now, after about a year or two, isn't it like a car? You start finding out what's wrong with it, and you wish you hadn't bought it.

But, Nancy. No? What? Do you think that they're going to be able to sell that to a jury, that the reason he did that is because he owed her $350,000? Nobody in Fulton County is going to understand that. I understand it. Did you see that wonderful lawyer? Renee, Renee, Renee, Renee, Renee, Renee, Renee, Renee.

You listening? Renee, don't you remember the Zellner case I prosecuted? I think that was it. That was just over a $5 hit of crack. Then I had a murder over a $10 hit of crack. So I'm pretty sure over a $10 hit of crack. So, I'm pretty sure if a jury can understand a shooting over a $5

hit of crack cocaine, they can understand a $350,000 hit. Okay? I don't think that we got a problem there. Now, you know who the prosecutor is, right? They're the team, but your favorite, Clint Rucker, leads

the prosecution. Oh, don't. He is not. Oh, I'm going to have to give him some H-E-double-L because, guys, Clint was my, what would you say, my impresario, my, um, I trained

him when he came to Fulton County as I also helped train Vic Reynolds. Remember that young man who's now an elected district attorney? So Clint is one of the lead investigators, excuse me, one of the lead prosecutors in Fulton County now. He has handled a lot of big cases. So he's going to be handling this. Can we talk about who's across the table from him? William Hill, an ex-judge. Oh my, whoa. Are you serious? Yes. And he's a wonderful lawyer,

wonderful lawyer. He's going to have to figure out a way to get these statements and keep these statements out. Renee, you could not have said two different words that would have struck a chill down my spine as a prosecutor other than Bill Hill. Okay. When I was a young prosecutor, a new prosecutor, because according to me, we're still young, Renee. When I would have a murder case conviction, of course, every murder case goes up on appeal, whether there's grounds or not. The state attorney general's office, whenever it's a murder case, immediately is triggered.

And they write an amicus curiae friend of the court brief. Well, that's how I met Bill Hill. I had a murder case and it was up on appeal as they all were. He wasn't doing that one because he specialized in death penalty convictions. That's how good he is. But I met him through that first murder case, Renee, and I was just completely, I mean, he walks in the room and it's like energy just crackles out of him. He's charming. He is handsome. He's a smooth talker. He can really wear a suit. And he is smart as a whip. Okay.

He goes from there. He becomes a judge in Fulton County. Then he leaves the bench. Then he becomes a partner in a really big law firm, probably making a whole bunch of money. Wow. Okay. Clint has a problem. And he's part of the team.

Man, you couldn't have said anything other than that that would have made me think, okay, we're in trouble on this one. We are in trouble now that you said Bill Hill. Okay. Let's talk about the evidence. Let me get off Bill Hill for a moment and talk about the evidence. So correct me if I'm wrong, Renee, but September 25, Diane McIver, front seat passenger, driving along, and then her husband, for some reason, opens fire on her. The problem is he gave multiple statements. One, he said he was afraid of the Black Lives

Matter protest and that he thought because he's driving through inner city Atlanta, somebody might run up to his car and try to carjack him. Okay, that's his first story then there was we went over a bump in the road and i accidentally shot her i can already see the crying lab coming in to talk about trigger pull how many pounds of resistance you need to pull that trigger you don't just run over a bump and bam Murder your wife. Then the third story. Those two stories are not inconsistent. Okay, whatever you say. And then the third story is he was asleep. He was asleep. And somehow in his sleep, as I always used to say to the twins,

when they would have a start in their sleep, was a bunny chasing you, sweetheart? A bunny must have been chasing him in his sleep because he sure pulled that trigger. Okay. Those are the three stories that I know of. Are there any more? I don't think so, Nancy. Is that not enough?

Well, you know, I'm always looking for more evidence. But those stories are not inconsistent. Well, if he was so afraid of getting carjacked, how could he fall asleep? I think that they were responsibly using a designated driver because there was some alcohol involved. Oh, it sounds like a big drunk to me. He may have nodded off. And all of those stories are consistent with each other. The problem is if you can't throw those statements out, nothing else can be used to

explain his conduct. Who's the judge? Has it been assigned to a courtroom yet? You know the judge. It's Judge McBurney. Oh, yes. Okay, I was just going to say, please don't say Dempsey, because he'll let anybody walk right out the door. It was Judge McBurney that did the hearing where he was taken back into custody, Nancy. So now, a defense attorney's worst nightmare, you're trying the case from the Fulton County Jail. So you have to grab your file, schlep on over to the jail, and talk to your client across through the glass. That jail stinks. I mean, literally stinks. I mean, it stinks.

There's something about the Fulton County Jail. I've never smelled anything like it. They got bigger problems than talking through a glass. Are you aware of why he had to go back to jail? Yes, because he had a gun in his possession he wasn't supposed to have. And that's it. I think he surrendered like 15 firearms. After three days of hearings this past week,

a judge in Fulton County decides Tex McIver's bond would be revoked because he violated it. How did he violate it? Because he kept a gun in his possession. That's not okay. The gun was in his Buckhead condo. How did they know to even look there? How did they find out about the gun, Renee?

Okay, so my understanding is that they went to the residence to do a search warrant to look for paperwork, i.e., wills, financial statements, etc. There was an assistant, an administrative assistant, who was directing traffic and allowing the search warrant team to go through the house and look. And lo and behold, when they opened up a sock drawer, I think it was, they found a gun. Renee, do you mean to tell me he has not changed his socks since the original hearing? He didn't know that gun was there? What I think is going to end up happening is that she's going to become a witness because she would know better than anybody if the gun was there or not there. Of course the gun was there. Are you suggesting the police planted it? Oh, absolutely not.

Now, I do have an update. While it was Judge McBurney who did the bond revocation hearing, the case has been assigned to a good friend of yours, Henry Newkirk. I love Henry and his wife. You know, Henry was a former Atlanta police officer, and I always tell a funny story about Henry. Well, probably not funny to him. When I first came to the DA's office, Henry also used to work in Florida.

And he, believe it or not, was the first cop on the scene at the sorority house where Ted Bundy had new victims. And his story is, yeah, his story is he went in, he realized what had happened, and he goes, all the girls came running down. He goes, stay calm. There has been a brutal murder in your sorority house. Stay calm. And, of course, all the girls were like, ah!

You know, I mean, he was a rookie. He didn't know. But he has been, he's a real trial lawyer. I did not know that. Okay, so I'm glad to hear that. I think he prosecuted with you, Nancy. Did he not? Yeah, he did.

Yeah, he prosecuted with me. I think a lot of him, a lot of him. What I like, Renee, is that he's a trial lawyer. He's not some Harvard educated lawyer that gets spit out and makes a couple of political contributions and gets on the bench. This is a guy that has tried a lot of cases. You know, he knows, he knows the law. Now, I want to get back because you've so adroitly managed to get off his changing statements. Alan Duke, with me, the Duke, Alan Duke, out of his luxury pad in Hollywood. Alan, are we missing any statements? No, you're not missing any statements.

But I will tell you one of the more remarkable things was not a statement, but an action. Back in February, MacGyver auctioned off his dead wife's furs and jewelry. I just thought that made a big statement. Uh-oh. Yeah, I mean, Renee, she's still warm in the grave. She's warm to the touch. And he holds basically a yard sale of all of her stuff. Okay, now, do we use that against him?

Yeah. I don't think so. Totally, I would use it against him. It reminds me of, and again, Tex MacGyver has not been convicted. He's only charged right now. He declares his innocence and says this is an accident. And a lot of people believe him.

Do you remember Drew peterson the cop he's got one dead wife kathleen savio he has another wife missing stacy peterson she'd only been gone a couple of weeks till he started to try to give away her lingerie and her fur coat okay he didn't expect her to come back in the door. All right. So I don't think any juror is going to look kindly on having a yard sale to get rid of your wife's stuff. It's just not a good look. Nancy, it was more than a yard sale. You know how much he raised by selling her stuff? Hit me. $1.1 million. That's not a yard sale. Yeah, he's not in money trouble, Renee. He's selling off her Louboutins to raise money.

You know that looks bad. It looks bad, but do you think it comes in? They better not let that in. Yes, I think it's going to come in. For what? What kind of, what would you use that for? To show frame of mind, course of conduct, and motive. And I'll tell you why.

The motive is going to be money. How do I prove that? I show that $350,000 debt and I show he's so hard up for money, he is willing to sell his beloved wife's most prized possessions within a couple of months after her death to raise money. That would be my argument that she's his meal ticket. That would be my argument. I mean, if I could support it with the facts, of course I'd bring it in. No, am I what? Am I crazy? Let's talk about this. Today is April 28th. He went to jail two days ago. He's now fighting this case from the jail. You know that his attorneys right now, because today is the last day of the term, they're going to be making some decisions as to whether or not to file a motion for a speedy trial.

Today's the day. If I know Bill Hill, I could see Hill slapping the state with speedy trial demand because the prosecution is so overloaded with cases, they could easily drag their feet on this and then be forced into a speedy trial before they're ready. All right? So I could see Hill doing that, very easily doing that. Yes, and so let's decide when they would have to try him. They would have to try him within three terms. So, April.

So three terms is nine months. July, August, September, October. So this case is over in October's state file today. Alan, how badly do you think it's going to hurt him about this spokesperson's changing stories? What about the influencing's changing stories? What about the influencing a witness charges? The spokesman that he chose to release that statement is one of the most respected and experienced public relations people in Atlanta. Somebody that I covered when I was a local reporter back in the 80s there, Bill Crane. And so he doesn't just go out willy-nilly

making statement. There's no pulling back that statement. To hate, to hate with the marketing and the PR. What matters is Crane, the spokesperson, got his information from the defendant. While the defendant is protected under the Constitution from police questioning, he's not protected from his own blabbing to a PR firm. So whatever he told the PR firm will come in to evidence. Okay, next. Oh, I agree. It should.

There is a voice recording that exists of him calling the husband of this woman who was driving the car at the time that will be used against him. A recording that he had asked that person to erase, but apparently did not get deleted. And what did it say? It was suggesting that she shouldn't talk to law enforcement anymore, that they should forget that she was even in the car because her and his discussions with investigators was hurting his case. And that apparently is recorded. So Renee, it looks bad when you're caught on audio saying, let's pretend you weren't even in the car or words to that effect and quit making statements that make me look guilty. Uh-oh.

And you know that she admitted to all of that when asked by the district attorney's office. They've been interviewing witnesses, asking them to come down, talk to them about what's going on with him. Now, you know he's my neighbor, do you not, Nancy? Yes, I do. He lives one block from me. Well, now he's at the Fulton County Jail, so. Another nice high-rise to be, to have your own private room in. Yeah, he has some pretty fancy digs in Atlanta, in addition to that farmhouse,

but I don't know. Renee, when I first heard this, I will tell you, of course, I was suspicious, but I thought, nah. But then when I heard the different statements, it just got worse and worse. Then there was the yard sale. I don't know. I mean, how could a lawyer be this darn stupid? You know what? People just want to talk their way out of charges.

They think that if they can say something, and they have to remember that these investigators are not trying to help them. The investigators are trying to make a case. So nothing you say is going to be helpful, not to your PR person or your investigator. Renee Rockwell, a veteran defense attorney and longtime friend of mine, I want to thank you for being with us. I know you got to get back in that courtroom. Tell everybody at the courthouse I said I miss them, and I'll catch you on the backside, friend. I love you. Love you back. Bye-bye. Alan, Alan the Duke. Man, this case is going forward. There's no stopping it now, so let's see what unfolds. We are talking about renowned lawyer in Atlanta, Tex MacGyver, now charged with homicide in the shooting death of his wife, Diane. We'll see where it goes. He's charged with homicide.

He insists he is not guilty that it was an accident. We'll see what a jury says. Just indicted, hot off the press, and assigned to a judge, Judge Henry Newkirk. You got a great prosecutor, Clint Rucker. You also have a great defense attorney, Bill Hill. Okay, war between the gods. We'll be there. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.