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Closing arguments in the murder trial of Georgia attorney Claud ‘Tex’ McIver will take place on Tuesday. McIver is facing allegations that he intentionally killed his wife Diane McIver on Sept. 25, 2016. Tex McIver admitted that he shot Diane, but insists it was an accident.
The defense rested their case on Friday, and the prosecution called three rebuttal witnesses on Monday. Tuesday, each side will have two hours to present their closings.
Throughout the trial, the defense has claimed that Tex and Diane were riding in a car while a friend was driving, and Tex, seated in the back, asked for his gun protection because they were in a supposedly suspicious neighborhood. Diane was in the front passenger seat. Tex claims he then fell asleep with the gun in his hand, and accidentally pulled the trigger when he woke up suddenly.
One of the prosecution’s witnesses on Monday, sleep disorder expert and law professor Dr. Mark Pressman, said this was unlikely, because if Tex McIver was really that nervous that he wanted a gun for protection, he would not have been able to fall asleep so easily. Pressman did acknowledge that McIver had REM behavioral disorder, which the defense claims led to the accident. Pressman did not agree that the condition would have led to the accidental shooting.
After the testimony wrapped up, the jurors took a trip to the actual car where the shooting took place. This was so they could see what angle the bullet would have had to have traveled at, and how McIver might have been positioned at the time.
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[Image via Law & Crime Network screen grab]