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

0:05
Speaker 1: Things have gotten even worked sport Text Mgiver. Prosecutors are
0:09
Speaker 1: now saying text mge iver intentionally pulled the trigger, killing
0:13
Speaker 1: his wife. Diane McIver says he was sitting in the
0:16
Speaker 1: backseat of a car holding a pistol when it accidentally
0:19
Speaker 1: went off and shot his life. According to the indictment,
0:22
Speaker 1: mcgeiver told Danny Joe Carter, the woman who was driving
0:25
Speaker 1: the couple that night, to tell the police that she
0:28
Speaker 1: wasn't there. The indictment also says that Mgiver told his
0:31
Speaker 1: spokesperson he was holding a gun that night because he
0:34
Speaker 1: was afraid of Black Lives Matter protests. This is crime
0:38
Speaker 1: Stories with Nancy Grace. Prosecutors believe Diane Mgiver had a
0:43
Speaker 1: secret updated will that text mcgever is hiding. They also
0:46
Speaker 1: believed that secret will might provide evidence of motive in
0:49
Speaker 1: her death. There's no financial motive, there's no jealousy, there's
0:53
Speaker 1: absolutely no motive. She is dead. She was beautiful, educated,
1:04
Speaker 1: had closets and closets of clothes and shoes and bags
1:11
Speaker 1: from all over the world. I mean, I'm embarrassed just
1:14
Speaker 1: sitting here and my same old running shorts. Well they're
1:19
Speaker 1: actually need ties. My tennis shoes in my brave shirt.
1:23
Speaker 1: This woman was absolutely stunning in every way, not only
1:28
Speaker 1: that she was a businesswoman without compare because she ran
1:36
Speaker 1: an incredible business, very successful. No idiot by any stretch,
1:44
Speaker 1: and she's dead. What happened, well, according to her husband,
1:50
Speaker 1: a prominent lawyer, he fell asleep in the back seat
1:56
Speaker 1: as they were driving home, and whoops, pull the trigger
2:00
Speaker 1: and shot her in the back. I am I supposed
2:03
Speaker 1: to actually believe that, I Mancy Grace, this is crime stories.
2:09
Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us. With me is renowned
2:13
Speaker 1: defense attorney Renee Rockwell in court when that husband, the
2:19
Speaker 1: lawyer Text mc iver, showed up to plead not guilty. Hey, Renee,
2:24
Speaker 1: it didn't really help. When he had that fancy garage sale,
2:28
Speaker 1: or is the rich people call it? What was it?
2:30
Speaker 1: A consignment by invitation only? I eat a garage sale
2:36
Speaker 1: for all of his wife's stuff. She was barely cold
2:40
Speaker 1: in the grave. He raised over a million dollars for
2:44
Speaker 1: that sale, as I understand, raised a million dollars for
2:48
Speaker 1: the seal. What did he do with the with the money?
2:52
Speaker 1: I would imagine, Nancy, that he is spinning it on
2:57
Speaker 1: this fabulous defense team. You know, ed Judge William Hill
3:02
Speaker 1: is one of the players on his defense. Oh yeah,
3:04
Speaker 1: you just had to get to me at the very
3:07
Speaker 1: beginning because I practiced with along with Bill Hill when
3:12
Speaker 1: he was in the a g. S Office, and I
3:15
Speaker 1: practiced in front of him when he became a judge.
3:19
Speaker 1: And out of that whole defensive team, that defense team
3:22
Speaker 1: Macaiber has assembled, he is the one that could pull
3:25
Speaker 1: this out. Not only is see an incredible legal scholar,
3:29
Speaker 1: he has away with people. You know, he just he
3:33
Speaker 1: just gets it. So he's the one that should strike
3:37
Speaker 1: fear in the hearts of the prosecution. But Renee, this
3:41
Speaker 1: is one of the reasons you're so good. You successfully
3:43
Speaker 1: dodged what I brought up the garage shell of all
3:47
Speaker 1: of his wife's stuff before she was even cold and
3:49
Speaker 1: the great and you seem to make it seem like
3:52
Speaker 1: it's okay because he raised a million dollars. That doesn't
3:55
Speaker 1: really help anything, Renee. That he made a million dollars
3:58
Speaker 1: offers dead wife's pandbags. Nancy, it's certainly not anything they're
4:03
Speaker 1: gonna be able to use against him in a murderer.
4:07
Speaker 1: I'd use it. I would totally use it to show
4:10
Speaker 1: frame of mind, but we would use that. Yeah, you're
4:14
Speaker 1: darn right, I'd use everything you got one swing at
4:17
Speaker 1: the ball, one by an apple. Yeah, I go into
4:20
Speaker 1: what you call overkill because I would want the truth
4:24
Speaker 1: to come out in front of this jury. You don't
4:25
Speaker 1: get a do over what you know what? Hold on.
4:28
Speaker 1: I'll get into all that in a moment. But first, Renee,
4:31
Speaker 1: you were in court at the time of the not
4:32
Speaker 1: guilty play. Tell me everything, don't leave anything out. Obviously
4:36
Speaker 1: he played not guilty. But the important part of yesterday's
4:40
Speaker 1: hearing is he has been in jail now for forty
4:44
Speaker 1: two days, forty three days. Today he was out on
4:48
Speaker 1: bond and his bond was revoked. His bond was revoked
4:52
Speaker 1: because condition of his bond was that he surrendered all firearms.
4:57
Speaker 1: Now you well know, Nancy, that the District al Porney's office,
5:01
Speaker 1: not the police department, but the District Attorney's office, decided
5:05
Speaker 1: to execute another search warrant at his home, presumably looking
5:11
Speaker 1: for another will. I think the state, Nancy, is still
5:15
Speaker 1: looking for a movortive but the death. But way, why
5:19
Speaker 1: do they have to look for a motive? Why do
5:21
Speaker 1: they need a motive? A The state doesn't have to
5:24
Speaker 1: prove a motive. Although you're right, juries like to hear
5:26
Speaker 1: why but what about all that money? She was the
5:30
Speaker 1: money bag. She was the money bag, but presumably he's
5:34
Speaker 1: using it along with her. But back to the search warrant, Nancy,
5:38
Speaker 1: she has a um. He has an assistant that's helping
5:42
Speaker 1: the investigators walk through his house. By the way, this
5:47
Speaker 1: this UH Residents is Caddy Corner from where I live. Nancy,
5:51
Speaker 1: you passed by any time you come to to my home.
5:55
Speaker 1: As the assistant is walking through the home assisting the investor,
6:00
Speaker 1: get us from the District Attorney's office to look through
6:02
Speaker 1: the home for presumably papers, possibly another will where wherein
6:07
Speaker 1: she may have changed her will. They go in his
6:10
Speaker 1: sock tour and what is in the sock tour a firearm,
6:14
Speaker 1: and based on that they freeze the scene, go and
6:18
Speaker 1: get another search warrant. Because the search warrant, the initial
6:22
Speaker 1: search warrant is for papers, the second search warrant is
6:27
Speaker 1: for a firearm. And based on them viewing that firearm
6:31
Speaker 1: in the sock tour, Nancy, his bond was revoked yesterday's
6:36
Speaker 1: hearing was so that he could get back out on
6:38
Speaker 1: bond um. Judge mc bunney has not decided that yet.
6:43
Speaker 1: He's taken it under advertisement. But that was the plan
6:48
Speaker 1: of the dream team yesterday to get hit the client
6:51
Speaker 1: back and fight the case from the streets instead of
6:55
Speaker 1: nine oh one right street. Hold on, hold on, okay,
7:01
Speaker 1: what the street? Fight from the street? I mean you
7:06
Speaker 1: make it satellite where you know, fighting World War two
7:11
Speaker 1: on the at Normandy the street, my rear end. He
7:16
Speaker 1: lives in an exclusive high rise. You couldn't have more
7:20
Speaker 1: luxury if you wanted it, so that that's not exactly
7:24
Speaker 1: the mean street. The buckhead, Ah, don't don't start up
7:29
Speaker 1: with me about him fighting from the street. And I
7:31
Speaker 1: tell you another thing, if he were not a rich
7:35
Speaker 1: white member of the Atlanta bar, okay, this would not
7:41
Speaker 1: even we wouldn't even be talking about him getting back
7:45
Speaker 1: out on bond. He was out on bond, which he
7:48
Speaker 1: should not have been to start with that. That's my
7:51
Speaker 1: two cents that nobody asked. But he got out on bond.
7:55
Speaker 1: Then he was caught with another gun. I mean, how
7:57
Speaker 1: many guns does this guy have? I mean, he killed
8:00
Speaker 1: his wife with a gun. Now he's caught with another
8:03
Speaker 1: gun after they've confiscated all his guns. So why should
8:07
Speaker 1: I even entertain him getting back out on bond. But
8:10
Speaker 1: somehow they got another hearing on him getting back on bond,
8:14
Speaker 1: and I imagine the judge didn't rule immediately because they
8:18
Speaker 1: want to hush hush, hush it, and that at some
8:21
Speaker 1: point down the road, in a couple of weeks, when
8:23
Speaker 1: nobody's watching, they'll let him back out on bond. So
8:26
Speaker 1: don't worry about that. He'll be back up and his
8:29
Speaker 1: plush man cave in no time. Yeah, I'm watching, You're
8:34
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9:35
Speaker 1: I'm on it. Can we get back to what matters?
9:38
Speaker 1: Then not guilty plea? Back to the courtroom. So they
9:41
Speaker 1: come in and what happens, Yes, just as you know,
9:47
Speaker 1: for any defendant is the most important thing. Just get
9:52
Speaker 1: me out on bond, Get me out on and I'll
9:56
Speaker 1: say one thing. If you want to leave this point,
9:58
Speaker 1: I want to say one thing. Robert mcbarney, the judge
10:01
Speaker 1: in this case, is not worried about him. Fleeing. Flight
10:06
Speaker 1: was not a concern with him. He doesn't think he's
10:09
Speaker 1: gonna run, doesn't think he's gonna take the money and
10:11
Speaker 1: go to some some location where he can't be um,
10:15
Speaker 1: he can't be apprehended and brought back for trial. That
10:19
Speaker 1: is not the problem. The problem is the issues that
10:24
Speaker 1: the judge wants address are safety and whether or not
10:28
Speaker 1: he's trying to influence or intimidate any witness. I'm so
10:34
Speaker 1: glad you said that. I'm so glad he's already trying
10:37
Speaker 1: to tamper with witnesses. According to the documents, that's the case.
10:42
Speaker 1: But there's one thing that is gonna be appropriately discussed
10:48
Speaker 1: at the time of the trial, whether he was trying
10:50
Speaker 1: to intimidate a witness, whether he was trying to make
10:54
Speaker 1: them change their minds on what their testimony was or
10:59
Speaker 1: what it or not he was suggesting what actually happened. Nancy, Oh,
11:04
Speaker 1: you mean when he said, will you please quit giving
11:08
Speaker 1: statements that indicate I'm guilty that that that one? Will
11:12
Speaker 1: you please quit talking about what happened that night? Can
11:15
Speaker 1: you not say that anymore? You mean those statements exactly?
11:19
Speaker 1: They let's see, Renee, what exactly is alleged that he
11:24
Speaker 1: did to try and influence witnesses exactly. I don't want
11:29
Speaker 1: to misrepresent anything because I am not looking at the
11:33
Speaker 1: exact report and the statement, but it does have something
11:37
Speaker 1: to do with whether or not they told their story
11:41
Speaker 1: once to the police, and then there may have been
11:44
Speaker 1: some communication between mcgover and these witnesses before they went
11:50
Speaker 1: back to be re questioned. So I'll leave did that Alan?
11:54
Speaker 1: He allegedly made phone calls to witnesses from jail, and
11:58
Speaker 1: of course we all know that telephone calls in jail
12:01
Speaker 1: are recorded, and so a lawyer should know that. Let's
12:06
Speaker 1: get right down to it in court. The assistant d A,
12:10
Speaker 1: who is also a longtime friend of both Renee and myself,
12:15
Speaker 1: that I actually trained when he came to the d
12:18
Speaker 1: a's office. Clint Rucker is a fine, fine prosecutor, he
12:24
Speaker 1: said in court. As Alan just reported, three recent phone
12:29
Speaker 1: calls were recorded from jail. In one he speaks about
12:33
Speaker 1: providing a car to a potential witness, and another phone
12:38
Speaker 1: call soliciting a favor from a judge. As Rucker points out, quote,
12:46
Speaker 1: He's a very smart man. He's very well connected. He
12:49
Speaker 1: has financial resources to reach out to people who can
12:54
Speaker 1: have influence over what happens to him. Mctiver is a
12:59
Speaker 1: former Republican donor and vice chairman of the State Board
13:03
Speaker 1: of Elections. Accusations were made during the arrayment on charges
13:09
Speaker 1: that he shot his wife, Diane McIver, while they were
13:13
Speaker 1: driving near Piedmont Park. He has pled not guilty, but
13:18
Speaker 1: there were other issues that happened regarding tampering with or
13:24
Speaker 1: influencing witnesses. When he was out before his bond was
13:29
Speaker 1: revoked and he was still out, he was making phone
13:32
Speaker 1: calls and stating to witnesses to stop talking to stop
13:38
Speaker 1: talking because they were making him look guilty. Renee, Renee,
13:44
Speaker 1: that is tampering with a witness to tell somebody to
13:48
Speaker 1: stop talking. I don't know about that, Nancy. Stop gossiping,
13:53
Speaker 1: stop doing this, stop doing that. If he is calling
13:56
Speaker 1: somebody and telling and intimidating somebody and says I need
14:00
Speaker 1: you to say X instead of wires Z and and
14:06
Speaker 1: presumably X is not the truth, then then that's one thing.
14:10
Speaker 1: But if he says stop talking about me, you're making
14:13
Speaker 1: me look guilty. I don't know that that rises to
14:16
Speaker 1: the level of an event. Okay, you know what, I
14:21
Speaker 1: agree with you on that. More troubling is, according to
14:26
Speaker 1: the charging documents text mcgiver, the defendant instructed Patricia Danny
14:33
Speaker 1: Joe Carter, the woman who was driving the car that night.
14:37
Speaker 1: He instructed her, according to the documents, to tell police
14:43
Speaker 1: she was not there at the time of the shooting.
14:47
Speaker 1: That is in the charging documents. Now, that will be
14:52
Speaker 1: a simple matter of putting the witness, Danny Joe Carter,
14:55
Speaker 1: on the stand, presumably she will say what she told
15:00
Speaker 1: police he said. That is going to be tampering with
15:05
Speaker 1: a witness now lessen. Two weeks later, October six. The
15:10
Speaker 1: indictment itself states, mc iver leaves a voicemail with Danny
15:15
Speaker 1: Joe Carter's husband Thomas, asking him to stop his wife
15:19
Speaker 1: from quote communicating her rele recollection of the facts and
15:24
Speaker 1: circumstances of the death of Diane McIvor to law enforcement
15:30
Speaker 1: because those statements placed the defendant at risk of immediate incarceration.
15:37
Speaker 1: Then he asked Thomas Carter to delete the voicemail. He also,
15:43
Speaker 1: according to the indictment, asked the spokesperson Bill Crane, to
15:48
Speaker 1: retract a statement he had made to the media Renee,
15:53
Speaker 1: and that statement had to do with him claiming he
15:58
Speaker 1: opened fire, pulled out the gun because he was afraid
16:02
Speaker 1: of black lives matters, and the gun went off when
16:05
Speaker 1: they hit a bump. Okay, So he asked Crane to
16:09
Speaker 1: retract that after he had already told Crane that's what happened.
16:13
Speaker 1: So what do you think about those Is there a
16:16
Speaker 1: way around those statements, Nancy? There's an even more unusual one,
16:22
Speaker 1: and only someone like mcgever could pull this one off.
16:25
Speaker 1: According to Rucker, the prosecutor, mcgeiver called from jail, called
16:30
Speaker 1: and Schwall. She's the ex wife of a Fulton County
16:34
Speaker 1: Superior Court Judge Craig Swall. They happened to be the
16:37
Speaker 1: godparents of mcgiver's child, and suggested that she called her
16:42
Speaker 1: ex husband, quote all he needs to do is make
16:45
Speaker 1: a phone call. I can be out of here the
16:47
Speaker 1: next day. In other words, he was reaching out to
16:49
Speaker 1: this judge friend to help him get bond, and the
16:55
Speaker 1: lawyer for mcgever explained that he was not influencing. He
16:59
Speaker 1: was quote just venting during that phone call. Just venting,
17:04
Speaker 1: not tampering. Oh, Renee, I didn't. I did not know.
17:08
Speaker 1: Alan just told me something new. You and I both Okay,
17:12
Speaker 1: let me tell you a funny story. Okay, Renee. Do
17:16
Speaker 1: you remember when you and I. Of course, this was
17:20
Speaker 1: not on the same case because I would never ever
17:24
Speaker 1: try a case against you because we're you know, best
17:28
Speaker 1: friends from way back. So you and I were in
17:33
Speaker 1: Judge Wafford's chambers and his secretary his assistant had a
17:39
Speaker 1: hot plate and which they later caught the chambers on
17:43
Speaker 1: fire with I think, But long story short, we were
17:46
Speaker 1: having their famous Russian tea translation lipped an instant tea
17:51
Speaker 1: with tang or something, and I don't know what that was,
17:53
Speaker 1: but we would drink it and sit back there and taught,
17:56
Speaker 1: waiting for court to start. Do you remember all those
18:00
Speaker 1: times we sat back there? Okay? Do you remember, Renee?
18:07
Speaker 1: And we were back there talking you and I about
18:10
Speaker 1: Judge Wafford insisted on driving to court every morning, and
18:14
Speaker 1: he had drive his truck up on the sidewalk. He
18:17
Speaker 1: couldn't see a thing. Now. Do you remember the time
18:20
Speaker 1: he had to be I guess eighty five years old?
18:24
Speaker 1: He tried to kiss me on the cheek and he
18:26
Speaker 1: missed and kissed me on the knee, the knee cap.
18:29
Speaker 1: Do you remember that? I remember? Oh my stores. Okay,
18:38
Speaker 1: wait a minute, okay. The way that happened was okay,
18:44
Speaker 1: I was sitting beside him. He was at his desk.
18:47
Speaker 1: Of course, we didn't have any cases in front of him.
18:49
Speaker 1: He was retired judge, and occasionally he would come in
18:52
Speaker 1: and and accept guilty pleas that had been negotiated if
18:56
Speaker 1: another judge was, you know, in the middle majury trial
18:59
Speaker 1: and I was. I was sitting right beside him. We
19:04
Speaker 1: were both seated, and he leaned over to kissing me
19:06
Speaker 1: on the cheek and missed and hit the kneecap, and
19:09
Speaker 1: he kissed it I don't ever even know if he
19:10
Speaker 1: knew it was my kneecap or if he thought it
19:13
Speaker 1: was my I don't know what he thought. Anyway, long
19:16
Speaker 1: story short, that is when I first met now Judge
19:21
Speaker 1: Craig Schwall. Schwall was I don't know what his position
19:25
Speaker 1: was in he was not a judge, but he was
19:28
Speaker 1: in the courthouse all the time. It's a very good lawyer.
19:32
Speaker 1: And um I remember one day he came into Judge
19:35
Speaker 1: Waffer's chambers and I met him for the first time.
19:38
Speaker 1: Very likable, very smart, great guy. Now he's a judge,
19:41
Speaker 1: and now he's got dragged into all this. And let
19:43
Speaker 1: me make it clear, he had nothing to do with
19:47
Speaker 1: Judge Waffer kissing me on the knee. That was a
19:49
Speaker 1: whole another incident. I just happened to be in Wafford's
19:53
Speaker 1: chambers the day I met Craig Schwall. Do you remember
19:56
Speaker 1: him as a practicing lawyer, Renee, I absolutely to do.
20:00
Speaker 1: And also his father, very prominent attorneys, a boat in
20:05
Speaker 1: their own light. Now still his father still practices. And
20:10
Speaker 1: since you're mentioning Judge Wall, I will say this, Nancy,
20:13
Speaker 1: that Robert McBurney said after the hearing or or at
20:18
Speaker 1: the conclusion of the hearing, he said, I wanted very
20:22
Speaker 1: clear that crash Wall has not called me, has not
20:28
Speaker 1: mentioned anything to me, has not alluded that there has been.
20:32
Speaker 1: In other words, Nancy, no innuendo from Judge Wall to
20:37
Speaker 1: Judge mcberney to let mcguy her out on bond. You
20:40
Speaker 1: know another thing about Schwall and mcberney. I've never heard
20:46
Speaker 1: a bad thing about either one of them. I've never
20:49
Speaker 1: heard McBurney was partial to one side of the other.
20:54
Speaker 1: What what's mcbernie's background? Is he a former prosecutor or
20:59
Speaker 1: a former defense lawyer? What what is he? What's his background? Mcbernie?
21:04
Speaker 1: Nancy mcberney's background is he was a district attorney in
21:08
Speaker 1: the same office where you prosecutor, Pulton County District Attorney's office.
21:13
Speaker 1: Then he went on to be a federal prosecutor for
21:18
Speaker 1: several years and and was a it was a hi
21:21
Speaker 1: ranking prosecutor and has now become a member of the
21:26
Speaker 1: Fulton County Superior Court. Bitch a couple of doors down. Well,
21:31
Speaker 1: then he is no, he is no idiot. He's no idiot,
21:35
Speaker 1: neither a Schwall. Okay, so bottom line of it's like
21:38
Speaker 1: pulling a tooth with Renee Rockwell. You know, I'm just
21:41
Speaker 1: a j D. I'm not a d d S. I'm
21:43
Speaker 1: not a dentist. I think what she's saying is there
21:46
Speaker 1: are a lot of issues at trial and this is
21:49
Speaker 1: just the beginning. Okay, Renee Rockwell, friend and opponent, thank
21:54
Speaker 1: you for being with us. I Meancy Grace Crime Stories,
21:57
Speaker 1: signing off, Goodbye friend,