Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Did high-profile lawyer Tex McIver murder his wife then throw 'estate sale' of her furs and boots?

Episode Date: March 27, 2018

Prominent Atlanta lawyer Tex McIver is on trial for the fatal shooting of his wife, wealthy businesswoman Diane McIver. Fulton County prosecutors contend that the husband meant to kill his wife, but the defense argues that the revolved accidentally fired while he was asleep in the back seat of their SUV. Nancy Grace discusses the ongoing trial with private investigator Vincent Hill and lawyer and psychologist Dr. Brian Russell, host of Investigation Discovery’s Fatal Vows series. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. airing on A&E, Grace versus Abrams. My sparring buddy, Dan Abrams, and I take on the biggest cases and investigations that our country has ever seen. Thursday night, March 29, 11 p.m. Please join us. Again, I am so blessed, and you've been with me for all these years. Please join me on A&E, March 29, 11 p.m. I am so blessed, and you've been with me for all these years. Please join me on A&E, March 29, 11 p.m. Thanks, friend.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace on Sirius XM Triumph, Channel 132. Tex MacGyver admits that he shot his wife, Diane, as they drove near Piedmont Park. He is accused of murdering his wife last September as they drove home from their Putnam County ranch. He says it was a terrible accident when he was sitting in the backseat of his SUV holding a pistol. It just absolutely was an accident. Perhaps the best proof of that is me. I am dying a little bit every day. The longtime friend and confidant of Ms. MacGyver says she's certain that Tex MacGyver had fallen asleep and was asleep while holding his weapon. He had asked Diane for it because he was concerned about them driving down a street

where homeless people were hanging out. He says it went off and shot his wife Diane in the back. She's beautiful. She's incredibly intelligent. She's one of the most successful businesswomen in a huge metropolitan area and she's dead. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. I'm talking about an incredible woman, Diane McIver, who built an empire regarding limo services, cars, everything to do with the livery trade. She's dead. Now, according to a family best friend, she and her husband and the friend were driving back from their ranch, driving through downtown when ranch, driving through downtown, when suddenly, bam!

A gun goes off in the back seat, a gun being held by her husband, Tex McIver, that coincidentally shoots his wife dead. Trial is happening now, and we are live in the courtroom. Joining me, private investigator Vincent Hill on the story. Dr. Brian Russell, host of Investigation Discoveries, Fatal Vows, lawyer and psychologist. And Alan Duke reporting. Vincent Hill, how did the whole thing get started? Wait, wait, Vincent, listen to the prosecution opening statement.

Defendant did have a pension. And our expert will testify that based upon his spending habits, it will be depleted in two years after he retired. And in addition to that, without the money from Diane that he was receiving every month, on the time of her death, the defendant wouldn't even have $1. As a matter of fact, without Diane's money, on the day that she died, his account would have been negative over $5,000. You're going to hear that when she drafted the will in 2016, the ranch would go to the defendant. If she foreclosed on the ranch, it was her intent for the ranch to go to Austin. And you're going to hear in the days after Diane was shot and the defendant goes to talk to two homicide detectives at APD. And without any prompting, he tells them, I like to be in control.

And on September 25th, 2016, Diane was making all of the money. Diane owned the two condos in Buckhead. Diane could take the ranch. This ranch, according to the witnesses, that was his pride and joy. This ranch that he would go to every weekend, that he would host parties at, that he would go shooting at, Diane could take from him. On Diane's death, he went from negative $5,000 to over $1.1 million cash instantly. And he was the executor and one of the beneficiaries of Diane's $7 million estate. The easiest way for him to gain control was to kill Diane. And on Sunday, September 25th, 2016, the evidence will show that that is just what he did.

But wait a minute. The defense gives an entirely different picture. Listen. There's really one thing that we need to know about Tex McIver and Diane McIver to know that he did not intentionally choose life, and that is that he loved her, truly loved her, deeply loved her, and she loved him back. You are going to hear from multiple witnesses that they had a relationship that people were envious of, that they seemed like lovebirds,

even after 10 years of marriage, that Tex adored Diane, that she loved him, and that they were clearly proud to be married to each other. And that's why he didn't intentionally shoot her. So there are some facts that we don't dispute in this case. Actually, maybe quite a few. One fact you are not going to have to decide is did Tex shoot Diane?

Yes, he did. We are not telling you that the gun was sitting on the seat next to him and it accidentally went off. We are not telling you that the gun malfunctioned. No one is going to ask you to decide who was holding the gun when it went off. It was text.

That's not a dispute, so don't worry about that. The question you have to decide, was it intentional? And the evidence is going to show it was not. Nothing the state will present to you will prove that this was not an accident. So, Vincent Hill, what's happening in the courtroom? Well, Nancy, there's been a lot of back and forth between the prosecution and the defense. The prosecution says their theory, the motive was financial. Of course, Diane, like you said, was very wealthy. She had built an enormous sum of money through her business dealings.

Of course, the defense says this was just that. Wait a minute. Back it up. Back it up. Let's talk about her business dealings. And don't you know, I know she had a lot of money, Vincent Hill, because she hadn't been cold in the ground over, what, a month before her had a quote estate sale a garage sale basically anybody in the whole city in the metropolitan area could pick through her belongings didn't take long for that and it was a whole like a warehouse full of designer shoes, handbags, furs, gorgeous jewelry, to the tune of a couple of million dollars worth of duds.

He put that stuff on the market pronto. You know what? You know what, Vincent Hill? I hold on to my fiancé's few little belongings that I had of his since he was murdered. And I just don't think I could part with them. And I carry with me at all times my dad's handkerchief. Since he passed away. You know what?

You'd have to fight me tooth and nail to get a hold of those things. But apparently Tex McIver did not feel the same way. As a matter of fact, is it true, Vincent Hill, that within a few days after his wife, dead from a gunshot wound from his gun, another woman is wearing her boots, her favorite boots? Jackie, you see my boots. If my husband gives these boots to somebody else call the police vincent well is that true or is that just a rumor nancy that is true that did come up in court this past friday a lady named amy anderson who is a masseuse who is known to

both tex and i am what wait, wait, wait. A what? She's a what? That's how the prosecution painted her, Annie the masseuse. She's a massage therapist licensed in the state of Georgia, and she was friends with both Tex and Diane. There was a witness, James Grover, who's a friend of Diane, who saw Annie at the ranch about a week later wearing those boots. And he testified that he, Mr. Grover, actually purchased those boots for Diane.

So he knew those were the boots. Wait, Vincent, please just slow down. Slow down. I'm drinking from a fire hydrant here. Too much, too fast. Tell me about her favorite boots. We are talking about Diane McIver who built this business empire with her own two hands.

The husband that owed her what? I don't know, $300,000 to half a million dollars. She's dead and the masseuse is wearing her boots. Now, slow down and tell me the whole thing. So, Mr. Grover, who purchased the boots, said he was at a Crackle Barrel one day. He saw these rain boots. Did you just say Crackle Barrel?

It's Crack-er Barrel. Crack-er Barrel. Right, the restaurant. Good Lord, man. And he saw these rain boots that he knew Diane would love. He purchased those, I think he said, as a Christmas gift. And he gave those to Diane. Diane said she would keep those at the ranch.

And again, this is the spot where he saw Amy Anderson wearing these boots that he had given to Diane about two years prior to her death. Dr. Brian Russell, have you ever been in a Cracker Barrel? I never have. I had a funny feeling you were going to say that. A cracker barrel is southern cooking. It's vegetables, meat, chicken, fish to go with your veggies. And to get to the food, you have to walk through a gift shop. And I'm betting you money. These, they're very unique items. And I guarantee you these boots are not just your regular green galoshes. I guarantee you, and I don't have to see them, that they had something funny written on them, that they had faces on them. them that they had faces on them they had some bizarre

thing to them to become her favorites and the masseuse the female masseuse was wearing them the next week now i'm sure the defense will argue that has nothing to do with anything but tell me the reaction of the women on the jury and in the courtroom vincent hill. When it came out, the masseuse was wearing her boots in about two or three days. Oh, my gosh, Nancy. I was stoked, eyeball stoked on the jury and all of the females. Their eyes perked up, and they had the, oh, no, he didn't look on their face. And they sat up in their chair, and they started writing notes, and it didn't look too good for the defense.

But the defense did come back during cross-examination and say, hey, we don't know if Diane said Annie the masseuse, who was a friend to Diane, could wear those boots, or in the event of her death that she could have those boots. But it was that look on the female's face. I can't believe the defense even bothered to even go there and bring it up in the jury's mind again about the boots. It's the last thing I'm thinking about who I'm going to give my cowboy boots to.

I can tell you that right now. I plan to wear them. I'm not making any provisions for my favorite boots other than I'm going to wear them and get them resold. Now, Dr. Brian Russell, host of Investigation Discovery's Fatal Vows, you're also a lawyer and a psychologist. I guess you think that means nothing, right? It would be a cold day in H-E-L-L before this woman gave away her boots. Well, so here's the thing. A lot of times people ask us, and episode after episode, we talk about people's behavior after their spouse has passed away.

And all of our episodes are about murder, so after that spouse has passed away. And all of our episodes are about murder. So after that spouse has been murdered and and we talk about the fact that, you know, there's behavior that is clearly indicative of some kind of wrongdoing. And then there's behavior that just is is it raises the hair on the back of your neck. And you made a good point earlier in the show where you talked about the fact that people who you really have loved, who have passed away and left things with you, you cherish those things

and it would be very hard for you to part with those things. And so that's kind of what we expect of a spouse whose spouse passes away and the surviving spouse is really torn up about it. And so when we see a spouse, you know, easily passing out the things of the deceased spouse, it's a little weird. Now, that said, you know, this woman apparently had lots and lots and lots of things. So, you know, was he supposed to keep all the things the rest of his life?

Probably not. But this is concerning because it's pretty quick. Dr. Russell, I was just going to say, no, I don't expect him to keep a warehouse full of clothes. But within the first few days of losing your soulmate, I don't believe I'd be concerned with giving away her boots. You know what? Hold on.

I want you to take a listen to what the husband, Tex McIver, said. He looked up and didn't look at me, but looked past me and said, I don't trust these guys. Danny Joe, I hate to see you get wrapped up in this. I've seen how these things can go down. Past you, dad, on uniforms? Yes. Law enforcement uniforms? Yes. What did he you say after i don't trust these guys danny joe i hate to see you get wrapped up in this did he say what he meant by that statement no okay what's the next thing he said i've seen how these things can go down. Anything else?

You just need to say you came down here as a friend of the family. So what did you say? I leaned down and I said, Tex, I just drove you into the emergency room. Say it one more time. You drifted off a little bit. Okay. I leaned down and said, Tex, I just drove you into the emergency room. And why did you tell him that?

Well, because if I just drove down there as a friend of the family, there was no other reason there was no reason for me to be down at Emory Hospital and Decatur where I never go with no car at 10 o'clock on a Sunday night you know 15 minutes after his wife had been shot how was I supposed to explain that he looked at did he say something in response to that? He looked at me and he says, well, they don't know that. Well, that took my breath away. It took your breath away when he said that? Yes.

Okay. And so then what did you say back to him? I said, I can't lie. And then what happened? He said, oh, I'm not asking you to do that. That was Danny Joe Carter, Diane McIver's very best friend and the lone witness to the shooting. And she was claiming that the husband, Tex McIver, asked her within just hours after shooting his wife dead to tell police she wasn't even in the car when it all went down now listen to what the defense attorney did on cross the context here is i hate to see you get wrapped up in this dandy joe

right yes you're already wrapped up in it correct you're already driving the car in, correct? Yes. You're already on surveillance, correct? Yes. You already have handed the valet the keys. You've handed the folks at Emory Diane's information and identification, correct? Correct. You have gone back out to the valet to get the phone and come back in, correct? Correct. You have gone back out to the valet to get the phone and come back in, correct?

Correct. And then he's the, I hate to get you involved in this, Danny Joe, just tell him you're here as a family friend. Yeah, you just need to tell him you're down here as a family friend. Because the Martians would have come down and driven the car in. You know, wasn't that just the dumbest thing you've ever heard?

It didn't make sense to me. Of course it didn't make sense. there's no question, there's no question that Tex McIver was the person who shot his wife. Right? Yes. That's what I mean. There was no question about that. Nobody was denying that. It wasn't, correct?

Correct. It wasn't a mystery, correct? Correct. You drove the car in a video and were they're giving information the video and handing people that ID and all that it was just stupid that's why I'm again told him I just drove you into the emergency room. Right. And, you know, that was it. And he said, I'm not telling you to lie, right?

No. He didn't say that? Not right then. Okay, but he said that afterwards, didn't he? After I said I can't lie. Sure, and he said, I'm not telling you to do that. You know, to private investigator Vincent Hill, the one thing you don't want to do is when it's harmful testimony, unless you're explaining it, you know, explaining it away.

You don't keep bringing it up. But that's exactly what Bruce Harvey did. He brought it up again that he wanted, Tex McIver wanted Danny to lie about being in the car. Vincent, what's the scenario? Just give me the nuts and bolts for those people just joining us. What happened in the car the night Diane McIver was shot in the back? Pick it up from the ranch in Putnam County, Edenton, Georgia. Well, the story goes that the three, Danny,e carter tex and diane were out at

a restaurant drinking they're on the way back to the condo in buckhead here in atlanta georgia and it was an expensive one too okay just putting that on just putting it out there not judging go ahead um there was some type of traffic going on highway, which is understandable. It is Atlanta. They got off. And Texas in the backseat, seated directly behind Diane. Danny Joe is driving. They're in supposedly a bad neighborhood where there's some protests going on. A bad neighborhood?

You mean Midtown, where I used to live for years and years and years? Not far from the courthouse? Well, this is Texas testimony. His story. I guess I'm one of one person he thought was breaking into his car there's one person missing from this story who can't tell their version but at any rate tex says that he told diane to pass him the gun which was wrapped in a plastic bag a gun why just i'm scared the other day uh where were we well we were looking for a KFC not that I'm encouraging the children to eat greasy food but we were looking for a KFC

and um the the one of the children said mom there's a guy on the corner wearing a tutu and army boots. And I immediately, with the power lock, locked the doors. And I went, oh, really? Where? And they're still asking me, Mom, what? Locked the door. And I looked over and the guy was dressed in full Army gear, like he was going to storm something, like a SWAT gear and a tutu. And I'm like, he might swarm something, but it's not going to be this minivan,

I can tell you that much. So why didn't they just lock the doors and stop at the red light and keep going? Now, so he thinks he's in a dangerous area of town where i lived when i was a prosecutor and what there was somebody standing at the corner how did black lives matter to get into this well i i think there were some protests going on in the city that that weekend or that day in particular and you know he also brought up that so let me guess are they blaming the black man again i don't think he blamed the black man i mean it's definitely not a case of who done it you know it's definitely i know he did it but why did he get the gun what was he afraid of the red light he said he

was nervous and you know at some point i'm asking you vince nervous about what i thought they i thought at one point it was because they were near the homeless shelter. Nervous because they were in a bad neighborhood and they were Black Lives Matter protesters. He just felt nervous and he told Diane to pass him the gun. And at some point it went off. Chris, my children would say he got Nervix. Okay. He got Nervix. And Alan Duke, you've been covering it too.

So I've got a potpourri of choices about why he was nervous. One, it was at night. I would not draw a gun because it was at night, but that's him. Then, let's see, he was in a bad part of town. Then he was near a homeless shelter, which I would like to point out he was not. And then, although he may have passed one, the Midtown. The one on Courtland,. The one on Courtland. But that's on Courtland.

Yeah. That's not on Peatmont. Near Courtland and North. But wait a minute. It's not that far if he had been coming down Courtland and then blah, blah. So it's in the vicinity. I'm trying to help the man out for a minute. Right.

So it's night, bad area, homeless shelter, and Black Lives Matter. That got thrown in the mix so he asks the friend Danny to pass him the gun yeah okay go ahead yeah well first of all I also lived in that area back when I was a local reporter in Atlanta and there is that homeless shelter there which by the way they're now in the process of moving trying to clean up the area and gentrify it a little bit. But it's a pretty safe area, actually. I resemble that comment.

Yeah. You don't have to clean up the homeless shelter. I resent that. But go ahead. When you and I go out to lunch in Atlanta, it's usually right in that neighborhood, right? Over at Mary Hex? Yeah, that's true. And I've never had a problem with a homeless shelter.

In fact, I found a lot of witnesses in that homeless shelter. Go ahead. Yeah. So in the interview, the police interview, McIver gave days after the death, he came up with this scenario of how he was afraid. Plus, he also had a friend of his, Bill Crane, who was his spokesman, give the Atlanta Journal-Constitution an interview in which he purported that it was because he was afraid of Black Lives Matter. Well, that really backfired on him in public, and in fact, his own lawyers didn't like that at all. But let's hear that police interview. Danny Joe came to a stop. And anyway, I just had to wake up.

But she came to a stop. And I was handling the gun. And I realized it was in my lap. Right. And it went off. Danny Joee carter the woman driving also described hearing a big boom listen uh we were sitting at another intersection and i was sitting here with both wheels on the steer both hands on the steering wheel and when he asked her to pass in the gun she opened the console and i looked i looked in there and I didn't see it.

And can you explain to the jurors why didn't you see it? It was in a plastic bag. She looked in there and as she was looking, Tex said, it's in the bag. And so she just reached over and got it and I'm sitting here with both of my hands on and shut the console and handed it to him. And so either at the intersection of Piedmont and 12th or Piedmont and 14th can you tell the jurors, were you actually stopped at a red light when you heard something? Yes. Can you say to the jurors whether or not you hit a bump? No, we did not.

And when you were at the red light, can you tell the jurors what happened? Well, we were sitting at the light, and I had both hands on the steering wheel because it's a big vehicle. And I was watching the light, and I hear click, click, click. And I looked at Diane and asked her what she was doing. She said, I'm just making sure the door is locked. And she said, there're like it's locked and I looked at mine and my door lock was up so I hit the button and locked the doors and I said no now they're locked and I think that's the last thing that she said I heard a big boom and I didn't know what it was

I thought there was an explosion somewhere but my head turned to the right and I looked out the window and wondered where there was an explosion or if somebody behind us was getting ready to hit us or something

had happened behind us, I did not realize that it was a gunshot right away. How did it sound? It was loud. And so can you tell the jurors what happened next? Diane turned around. Like, she turned around. That's why she slung around and she says,

Tex, what did you do she says text what did you do he said the gun discharged and so when she McIver turned around to look? When she turned around, I turned around and realized seconds. This was all happening in seconds. And I saw a puff of smoke, and I could see his hand, his hands. And I could see the top of the gun. I could see part of the gun, his hands, and some of the bag. And his hand was moving like this. What happened next? I turned back around and sat in the seat with my hands on the wheel, look staring at the red light. What mental impression did you have about what caused the sound?

The gun. And did you say anything? No. What did you do next? I turned around and stared at the red light with both hands on the steering wheel. Okay, and why did you do that? Because I wanted to get out of that car. I wanted to get home and be out of that car. And why did you want to get out of that car?

I thought there was a bullet hole in the bottom of the car because the gun was pointing down from what I could see when I looked at it. What did you expect Diane to do? I expected her to light into him. And did she? No. What happened next? She turned around and sat straight up.

She's only about 10 inches taller than you are. Very straight. When you sat straight up, what happened? She just sat there for a second. And I was still waiting for the light to change. Did Mr. MacGyver say anything during that time? No. So what happened next after Diane MacGyver sat straight up?

I could see out of the side of my eye the way I can see her sitting here, and she leaned forward and started doing like this and kind of leaned, yeah, like that. Okay. And what happened next? She said, text, you shot me. You heard her say that? I heard her say that. What happened next? Well, for a half, a little bit, I mean a second, less than a second, I thought it was a joke.

And then I realized it wasn't and then I knew that I had to to get to the nearest emergency room. So what happened next? I started blinking my lights and honking my horn to see if I could get the guy that was in front of me to move and looking for the emergency blinkers and I asked text where the closest emergency room was. And what did he say? He said Emory we should go to Emory and I said you're gonna have to tell me how to go, you know, which way to get there because I don't know. And so did you look over at Diane McIver? Did you say anything to her? Did you attempt to assist her? Anything like that?

Yes, I looked over at her and called her name. I called Diane. You actually looked at her? Yes. And what did she look like? She was breathing really hard and, you know, kind of like panicky. Can you tell the jurors what the defendant said and what did he do? He leaned forward and was holding her head with both hands and was saying, Diane, Diane. To Dr. Brian Russell, host of Investigation Discovery's Fatal Vow series, a lawyer and psychologist, go ahead and rub it in, Dr. Brian Russell. Dr. Russell, nothing can make you look bad more than scheming after the fact.

Listen to what Tex McIver says in his own voice. This is a voicemail he leaves behind to Danny Joe Carter's husband, Tom Carter. Listen. Tommy Lee has text. Sir, 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. Please, please call. So Dr. Brian Russell, between asking her to

lie and getting to her husband to get to affect her testimony, that looks bad, but that does not necessarily mean he meant to kill his wife. Well, yeah, again, it's more of this behavior that you have to put yourself in the position for a minute of somebody who, uh, imagine that, that you genuinely did accidentally, uh, kill someone close to you. And so after the fact, are you going to be sitting there thinking up ways to make it look different and lie and ask others to lie about it? No, you're going to be freaking out. You're going to be trying to get the person help immediately. You're going to be trying to get everybody who's around to help. You're going to be trying to get the person help immediately. You're going to be trying to get everybody who's around to help. You're going to be distraught, maybe even suicidal yourself about the damage that you've done. And we're not seeing that here. What we're seeing is somebody who

is immediately in self-preservation mode, apparently, thinking about how am I going to keep myself from having consequences. And right there, that throws a huge cloud over any kind of, oh, it was an accident argument. Back to you, private investigator Vincent Hill. We were right in the middle of you explaining what happened before I got off on a tangent about all his stories changing. Vincent, I told you this before I had a judge, Judge Albertson, that would tell the jury every jury trial, it's your duty to make all witnesses speak the truth and impede perjury on no one. And what I find significant about that here is, could several of his statements coexist truthfully? Did he think they were in a bad area of town? Was he worried about a homeless shelter? Did he ask for the gun for those reasons? Could it all be true? Let's get back to your scenario. You're in court every single day, Vincent. He's driving. He's in the

back seat of the car. He's sitting behind his wife. Danny Joe Carter is driving. The wife is in the front seat. They are coming through Midtown. Then what happens, Vincent? Once the gun has passed the text at some point, and the story's been conflicting, he was asleep and it went off, or they went over a bump and it went off. But at any rate, it went off. Diane was struck in the back. According to Danny Joe's testimony, she looked back at Tex and said, Tex, you shot me. And Danny Joe originally thought it was a joke until she saw, you know, Diane in an immense amount of pain. And that's when they started proceeding to Emory. And, you know, what's interesting about Emory is it wasn't the closest hospital and it's not a trauma hospital.

Right. Emory, he could have easily gotten to Grady, which has one of the best trauma units in the region. I've been to Grady a million times with trauma patients, gunshot wounds, you name it. That was probably less than a mile, maybe two miles away max, and a straight shot. So they go to Emory, and what happens when they get to Emory, Vincent? You know, they arrive at Emory.

Diane is carted off, you know, to get treatment. Tex, I believe, had already called or began to call his attorney. Actually, Danny Joe testified that Tex told her to get his cell phone out of the car, at which time he called his attorney to come to the scene. Diane was rushed off to emergency surgery. And unfortunately, you know, we know the outcome of that. She didn't recover from that gunshot well it's interesting um that when she first got there she diane mckay didn't really seem to know what had happened to her she was sitting in the front seat of the car of her car and suddenly she's shot from behind and she gets rushed to

emory hospital and they go ma', did you shoot yourself by accident? She goes, no, my husband shot me. It was an accident. She doesn't know what happened in the back seat. She's just assuming it was an accident. But then later to Alan Duke, what happened when she was asked just before she died, do you want to see your husband? Well, the doctor who was by her deathbed was talking to her he he knew that the end was probably near and he said would you like to see her your

husband and well she said no whoa question i i it got lost in the sauce vincent hill so you said they're coming through midtown and all he asked for the gun, and then he shoots her. Wasn't there something about they went over a bump? That was one story, and he had his finger on the trigger, and he shot by accident. Another was that he fell asleep and then woke up startled and pulled the trigger. What do we know about what caused him to pull the trigger? We don't know, Nancy, and you're absolutely right. There's been two versions, that they went, a bump, and the gun went off. And the other version was he had some type of sleep disorder and he woke up startled and pulled the trigger,

which caused the shot. Now, what I will say, me being, let's just say a firearm expert, I've been around guns for the last 25 years with my adult wife. I'm licensed to carry here in the state of Georgia. The one thing you never do is pass a loaded gun around in a small confined vehicle. That's just something you don't do. Now, does that make him a killer? Does that show intent that he had intent to murder? No, it doesn't.

Does it prove something that was very ignorant? Absolutely, it does. That's something you just don't do. Now, interesting. No, it doesn't. Does it prove something that was very ignorant? Absolutely it does. That's something you just don't do. Now, interesting. The defendant's reputation took a beating in court from his wife's business associates and friends. I find that very telling, Dr. Brian Russell. And I haven't made up my mind on Tex McIver's guilt or innocence yet but

you know if you asked any of my friends about my husband David they would say I think nothing but glowing things about him that's not true here his wife Diane's business associate she was the one bringing in the money now he's a lawyer and had been in a big firm in atlanta but he owed her hundreds of thousands of dollars and these business associates of hers claim he was preoccupied with money in the days right after her death and i'm referring to jay grover now that was her business associate at u.s enterprise just 48 hours after the shooting, Grover says he, McIver, asked if he could collect Diane's social security checks. And later that night tells Grover how he really wanted to get a seat on the board at a tobacco company that would pay him six figures. I mean, wasn't Dr. Russell, wasn't he going to get her whole estate, millions of dollars?

Well, you would assume so. And here assets, trying even to round up tiny assets like Social Security payments within hours, a couple of days of the death. It's very unusual. And after infidelity, finances are the second biggest reason why people end up on fatal vows. Dr. Brian Russell, host of ID, Investigation Discoveries, Fatal Vows series, a big hit. You know, I was listening again about what Danny Carter said, her best friend during her direct testimony. She said McIver, the husband, directed her to Emory Hospital. But Diane got worse and worse and worse, and they just kept driving. Diane started making noises that she had never heard, Danny had never heard before,

and she was afraid Diane was dying. Carter says Tex kept repeating her name, and Carter was running red lights to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. And McIver advised her to be careful. There might be people out there with baby carriages. In other words, stop at all the red lights. Vincent Hill, is that right? Yeah, that's absolutely right, Nancy.

And it went back to the facial expressions of the jury when that testimony was going on. It was hard for people to believe that if your wife, your spouse, your significant other had just been shot, that at 10, 30, 11 o'clock at night you'd be worried about baby carriages in the street or traffic for that matter. It played a huge role in the jury's mindset of why Tex would say that. Now, Alan, what can you tell me? Of course, every idiot and his brother knows your calls are taped at the jail, but that didn't stop McIver from talking before he got out on bond. We hear him talking to a judge who the judge tells McIver that he the judge supports McIver one thousand percent what what

what Alan that doesn't sound right well as you know around the Fulton County courthouses that these lawyers and judges are their best friends and long time friends and practice law together so he gets one on the phone through sort of a three-way call. I don't know about that, Alan. Every judge hated my guts, but go ahead. Well, you are exceptional. Thank you. Through a three-way call, he gets one of the judges on the phone, and the judge, you hear him say, you know, I'm behind you. I'm backing you. I believe you 1,000%.

Now, that judge was Judge Schwall that apparently told Tex Mac McIver he supports him 1,000%. Judge Schwall was not involved in the case. That's a whole other sideshow right there about what some judge unrelated to the case said on the phone. But back to the facts. To private investigator Vincent Hill in court, what can you tell me about the estate sale that went down in the days after her death? Yeah, Nancy, it's really interesting. So Jay Grover actually testified also that Tex had called them and asked how to get a copy of the death certificate so he could start to have this estate sale. And as you know, Tex sold a lot of Diane's property.

What the prosecution did, they put a picture of Diane on the screen, and she was wearing a very expensive necklace, way more than what I could ever afford. Oh, please tell me. I want to know. Oh, this had to be a $40,000 or $50,000 necklace, Nancy. Oh, dear Lord in heaven. to know oh this had to be a forty thousand or fifty thousand dollar necklace nancy and uh 401k times 50 oh exactly and again it goes it played on the jury you know of course again the women were looking like how could you do this to your wife that you just lost. Who sells all of this property? It's not logical. It's not even comprehensible.

But, you know, he did it, and, you know, the jury is playing into that. And as you know, sometimes it's not a matter. Well, hold on, Vincent Hill. Jackie, Jackie with me here in the studio. I don't really think that Dr. Brian Russell or Vincent Hill or Alan Duke are going to appreciate this. This lawyer, Tex McIver, sells his wife's colossal collection of furs, designer shoes, jewels, just about eight weeks after he accidentally shot her dead in their SUV. items like Jimmy Choo's, Robert Cavalli's, Chanel, Prada, Louboutin, Vuitton, Dior, Valentino. One fur coat still had a $6,800 price tag attached to it. She had never worn it.

Oh my gosh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh-huh just so you know we don't say omg but back to this that was just about eight weeks after a prominent lawyer says he accidentally shoots his socialite wife she's not just a socialite she's a businesswoman he holds his estate sale with his huge collection of designer clothing promoted, promoted as a fashionista's dream closet. And I'm looking at photos of it right now. Jackie, look at this. It looks like a boutique, like you would go into a boutique. Look at that.

It looks like a store. There's so many things. There's even her wreaths that apparently she made. It looks like Christmas wreaths hanging with price tags on them. Boots, jackets, suits, clothes, handbags. Ooh, Jackie, come look at this fur coat. Oh, my goodness. 121 fur coats. Oh, my goodness. 121 fur coats.

Ooh. All sorts. And, okay. But on the other hand, that's, would you argue, Dr. Brian Russell, a collateral issue as to whether he held an estate sale? I mean, does that go to the night of the shooting? Well, okay, so there are people who are sort of the opposite of you, how you described yourself at the top of the show, people who want to get rid of material reminders of people that they did love who pass away as quickly as possible. And I think, you know, you could chalk it up to that if it

were not occurring with an implausible story about how the shooting happened and then efforts afterwards to, it appears, to delay getting medical help for the wife, and then lying and asking others to lie about what happened. And then you couple that with the detachment that we're seeing to the material things of value and then running around trying to gather up monetary assets. And it all paints a picture of somebody whose love for the deceased really has to be questioned. And then if that's in question, then obviously the possibility, at least, that this was a financially motivated murder really comes to the fore. The estate sale included over 500 pieces of fine Italian and French jewelry,

hundreds of scarves in every color I'm just looking at all these photos of all the estate sell the scarves I wish you could see them all folded up it would field a 1200 that's 1,200 square foot showroom. Racks groaning under all the the outfits. Boots of every style and color. Fur coats, fur capes, the works. Purses, even one that was bedazzled, shaped like an owl. High-end shoes. Just, I just can't even describe it all. That's a whole other can of worms. What really mattered, what matters now, is what happened at the time of the shooting. Trying the case for the state, or one of the state's lawyers, is my former understudy, Clint Rucker. We tried many, many cases. I tried many, many cases with him helping me. We'll see what happens. He's pitted against a high-profile defense lawyer I've always also

met in the courtroom, Bruce Harvey. The case unfolding now. Will money and influence carry the day? What are the facts? We are on the case. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.