The attorney convicted of murdering his wife during a tragic car ride is taking his case to Georgia’s highest court. The defense for Claud ‘Tex’ McIver, 79, is appealing his 2018 verdict for killing wife Diane McIver, 63. Attorneys say the trial court improperly refused to instruct jurors on the lesser included charge of involuntary manslaughter, and they claim the court also allowed improper evidence, such as allowing jurors to sit in the SUV. Court is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. ET. You can watch in the player above.
McIver was sentenced to life in prison for felony murder, with an underlying charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Georgia Supreme Court To Hear Appeal Of Tex McIver Murder Conviction on Wednesday
One of the grounds for the appeal was the judge allowing the jury to sit in the SUV, where the shooting happened.
Reporters (including me) also got to sit inside.
More at https://t.co/nPTmTku5cq pic.twitter.com/NXsgRLtzDO
— Rahul Bali (@rahulbali) January 14, 2022
McIver was a backseat passenger, and Diane McIver was riding in the front passenger seat while friend Dani Jo Carter was driving home from dinner. In this account, they entered a neighborhood he considered to be unsafe, so he asked for a gun, and his wife gave it to him from the center console. McIver said he nodded in and out of sleep until he woke up to find that the gun in his hand went off. Prosecutors maintained that McIver staged this, lying about having a headache in order to get Carter to try. The defense called this story ludicrous. Prosecutors and the defense argued over whether it really was a mistake. The defense was sure to point out at trial that the state’s expert accidentally discharged the empty gun in court. Jurors did not buy their argument, however, though they acquitted him of malice murder.
Legal analysts were shocked. From a 2018 article by Law&Crime’s Aaron Keller:
Former prosecutor Dan Schorr called it a “shocking verdict.” Former prosecutor and current criminal defense attorney Bob Bianchi followed his initial “holy cow!” by calling it a “stunning defeat.” Former prosecutor and current criminal defense attorney Jonna Spilbor said, “holy sh*t, I am shocked.” Mark Eiglarsh said, “wow.”
Aaron Keller contributed to this report.
[Screenshot via Law&Crime Network]
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