Southern fried True crime covers cases that are not suitable for young listeners, and
there may also be some explicit language used. Listener discretion is advised. On
a hot Sunday in September of twenty sixteen, Text and Diane mc iver played
golf in the searing Georgia's sun for four hours. They picked up Diane's best
friend, Danny Joe Carter from their Putnam County ranch where she had been riding
horses before they all headed back to Atlanta, stopping for dinner and Conyers.
The mc iver's had been drinking, so after dinner, Danny drove the rest
of the way home with Diane in the front seat and Text behind her in
the back seat. At around ten pm that Sunday night, Atlanta traffic was
at a standstill on the Downtown Connector. Diane told Danny Joe to get off
at Edgewood Avenue. Tex had fallen asleep in the backseat and his wife fussed
at him to wake up so we'd be able to sleep that night. When
he looked around and saw the area they were in, he said, girls,
this was a bad idea. This is a bad area. And then
he said, Darling, hand me my gun. Diane McIver then handed her
husband the gun that would kill her. The Atlanta PD charged mac Iver with
involuntary manslaughter, but the DA disagreed and charged Text mac ivor with malice murder.
But did Tex mac ivor really mean to kill his wife? Welcome to
episode sixty six Text and Diane MacIver accident or Murder. Atlanta, Georgia is
one of the most famous US Southern cities in the world. During the American
Civil War, the burning of Atlanta was crucial in General Sherman's March to the
Sea. It crippled the Confederacy and was the beginning of the end of the
Civil War. The city fell in September of eighteen sixty four, and the
war ended in April eighteen sixty five. The fall of Atlanta was extensively covered
by northern newspapers, and they gave a huge boost to Northern morale as well
as President Lincoln's political standing, as he won the election that November by significant
margin. Sadly, Lincoln was assassinated just five days after Confederate General Robert E.
Lee surrendered in Appomattox, Virginia. Today, modern Atlanta is known for
its eclectic, diverse culture. It has been a mecca for African American political
power, education, and culture. There has been a black mare and office
in Atlanta since nineteen seventy four. During the civil rights movement in the sixties,
a popular Atlanta slogan was it was a city too busy to hate,
a slogan that would continue into the nineties, and in comparison to other large
cities in the Deep South, the progressive politics and diversity would make that slogan
ring true, But in reality, the people of Atlanta are still dealing with
racial disparity, tensions and the economic effects of gentrification. In twenty sixteen,
when Diane mac ivor was killed, Atlanta was in an exciting transitional phase.
Real estate prices that had lagged since the recession finally saw an uptick. New
ground was broken for retail and office spaces. The Braves left Turner filled for
sun Trust Park, a new entertainment complex within walking distance of bars, shopping,
and residential areas. In popular culture, the critically acclaimed show Atlanta premiered,
as well as Stranger Thinks, the Netflix hit that while sat in Indiana,
had been filmed in Atlanta and surrounding areas, giving another boost to the
local economy. On April fourteenth, Prince played his final show at the Fox
Theater in what patch dot Com called an intimate, stripped down performance just a
week before his death. That May, Atlanta was chosen to host the twenty
nineteen Super Bowl, making way for a new one point four billion dollar stadium
that would host the Atlanta Falcons and the new Atlanta Soccer Club. Twenty sixteen
was also the third year of the Black Lives Matter movement. In July,
hundreds had marched in downtown Atlanta to protest police shootings. The day before,
a young black man had been found hanging in Piedmont Park. The AJC reported
that the protest was in party reaction to what many believed was a modern day
lynching. However, the young man's death was ruled as suicide, and as
social media posts showed that he had been shamed by his family for being gay.
It was a terrible coincidence as there were so many police shootings nationwide that
had led to the protests. In the first half of July alone, there
were one hundred and twelve protests in eighty eight cities. It's important to mention
the Atlanta March because it does become a factor in this case. Though there
was no official march on the day Diane McIvor was killed, but still the
specter of dangerous Black Lives Matter protesters was raised by Text mc Ivor's pr guy,
a move that was seriously detrimental to mac Ivor's defense. I'm going to
pause now for a short commercial break. Claude Lee MacIvor was born in San
Antonio, Texas, on December twenty second, nineteen forty three. He graduated
from law school at the University of Texas before moving to Atlanta. Claude,
known as Texts all of his life, worked for Fisher Phillips law firm for
decades. He was a labor lawyer, but he didn't represent the little guy.
He represented the corporations. By twenty sixteen, he was a longtime partner,
but recently he went from equity partner to income partner, meaning his income
dropped from about seven hundred thousand dollars a year to about one hundred and twenty
thousand dollars a year. He was seventy three years old. That's not unusual
tex mac Ivor was also a staunch Republican who served on the state election board
for twelve years. He was nominated by the governor in two thousand and five
to be on the Judicial Nomination Committee, and even more telling, he served
on the American Bar Association Committee on Gun Violence. Tex was a man who
knew guns. He didn't just know them, he loved them, owning close
to forty guns, some twenty two of those being rifles. He was such
a good shot he could toss a bottle in the air and hit it.
Tex MacIvor married his first wife, Nancy, in nineteen sixty six. They
had three kids, two sons and a daughter. Nancy filed for divorce in
nineteen ninety seven, citing several affairs. She said Tex had, specifically that
he was having an affair with a woman that worked at their Putnam County ranch.
The eighty five acre ranch was Texas crown Jewel. He had horses and
cattle and a big, sprawling ranch house, as well as a guesthouse and
pool. Tex kept the ranch in the divorce, but otherwise took quite the
hit financially. It was an ugly three year court battle. When they settled
in July of two thousand, Tex had spent more than one hundred thousand on
attorney's fees, and he had agreed to pay Nancy almost seven hundred thousand dollars
in alimony. Nancy also got half of his retirement account, which was valued
at a little over seven hundred thousand at the time of settlement, and also
half of their property, which was four hundred thousand dollars. Tex also had
to pay one hundred thousand for her attorney's fees. The settlement even stipulated how
Tex could visit their dog malone quote, the wife shall allow the husband to
use her garden hose if necessary to wash the dog after one of his visits.
His daughter and one of his sons stopped speaking to him after the ugly
divorce, to the point that he wasn't even invited to his daughter, Meredith's
wedding. At the time of his divorce, his assets totaled almost one million,
but his monthly income was down to seventeen thousand dollars a month. He
used to bring in close to sixty thousand, but like I said, his
age and semi retirement had changed his salary. He met Diane the year of
his divorce, though there is no speculation whatsoever that there was any overlap or
that she was one of the affairs Nancy accused him of. He met her
through business associates and was immediately enamored of the beautiful forty seven year old woman.
Being ten years her senior didn't deter him at all. Diane Biddy Smith
mac ivor was born on July twenty first, nineteen fifty three in Auburn,
Alabama. She had a kind of rags to Rich's aura about her, but
she grew up middle class, though her relationship with her mother was always very
volatile. She had never known her father and her mother was an alcoholic with
several ex husbands. Diane had a brother who died in his early twenties.
She moved to Atlanta with her family when she was in high school, and
a business owner named Billy Corey hired her when she was just seventeen years old
as a part time payroll clerk. She worked nights to earn an accounting degree
from Georgia State University. In her first job for Corey at US Enterprises,
she started out answering phones and soon became president. US Enterprises is the umbrella
company that Corey Enterprises falls under. At the time of her death, Diane
mac ivor was the CEO of Corey Enterprises and her net worth was estimated at
twelve million. She had worked for Corey Enterprises for forty three years. She
was respected as a formidable businesswoman, ambitious, uncompromising, and tough as nails.
Diane didn't marry until she was forty years old. She always just said
that was a mistake. She never had children of her own. Friends later
said it was a painful divorce, and like Texas divorce, it was also
ugly with the splitting of finances, and Diane was estranged from her mother for
fifteen years. Before her death. She wouldn't even attend her funeral, telling
her neighbor that she would not shed one tear for her mother. Though tex
and Diane had met before, he started pursuing her more vigorously when she moved
into the luxury villa Buckhead Condos in Atlanta in the summer of two thousand.
He slipped a note under her door welcoming her to the building. She wasn't
interested at first, but he wore her down when she finally agreed to a
date. It was dinner in Texas apartment, and Diane showed up in yoga
gear in a ball cap. She was determined that this was going nowhere,
but Text charmed her. Rachel Styles, one of Diane's assistants, said quote,
he was the perfect match for Diane. Diane was a very strong woman.
She intimidated a lot of men. They just didn't want to compete with
her. The text didn't want to compete with her. He was just infatuated
with her. Diane didn't trust many people, but seemed to trust those that
worked for her. Her best friend, Danny Joe Carter, the one driving
that night, was her manicurist. They had been friends for forty years,
though there was a ten year period they didn't speak because Danny Joe had a
drinking problem. She got sober and was then welcomed back into Diane's life.
Diane's other trusted confidants were her two personal assistants at work, and the man
who detailed her car and ran errands for her. And that's about it.
You would think a woman in her position would have many rich, high society
friends, but Diane chose to trust people who worked for her. It's not
that she didn't rub elbows with the well heeled in Atlanta. She did,
but her close friends were more down to earth, and I think there is
something else at play here. Diane could be a bit controlling. She was
known as a very blunt person. She would tell you that you've put on
weight, offer tips on how to lose it. It wasn't really malicious.
She was just fastidious and she always thought she knew best. She could be
really critical, but everyone in her life accepted that as the other side of
the coin. That was Diane because she was also very generous and loving,
and she was hard on herself too. That's probably why she felt critical of
others. She got up at five am every day to work out, and
she kept weights in her office. But she can't always behave that way with
your peers and get away with it. Diane did. But her friends were
not exactly her peers. She was the CEO of a company, a self
made millionaire. Her friends were mostly employees and co workers. She didn't have
close friends in her own social standing, which isn't that unusual. How many
female CEOs do you know? Her peer group would be mainly men in that
sense, and before text she had even decided not to remarry. I think
that wealth can be insulating from the world's problems, but it can also be
very isolating. You never know if someone is your real friend or if they
want something from you. At least with employees, you know where you stand.
But Diane wound up falling hard for texts. They dated for almost five
years before marrying in November of two thousand and five and a lavish ceremony at
the Ranch. Diane came down the aisle in a horse drawn carriage. The
horse, wearing a flower crown, was her maid of honor, and they
lived a jet setting extravagant lifestyle, trips to Paris and the south of France.
She in taxts would fly into Louisville for the Kentucky Derby, but have
Danny Joe or her husband drive their limo up so they could have it to
ride around town in. But she was generous to Danny Joe with these trips,
even if Danny Joe might drive the limo or handle some other things for
her. She was getting to go on all these fabulous trips all over the
world with her generous best friend, and Diane often lent money to her friends.
Terry Brown was one of Diane's personal assistants at Cory enterprises, and he
was in charge of keeping track of the loans she gave friends. He told
the AJC that around the third of every month, she would ask him if
the money was all in. She loaned money but with reasonable interest rates,
and she even loaned money to Text. It's important to note here that she
and Text made the decision before they married to keep their finances separate. Both
had been through messy, expensive divorces, and both were still self made millionaires.
At the time of her death. It was estimated that Diane was worth
around twelve million, but most of that was in real estate holdings. She
had about four hundred thousand in the bank, and Text was worth about one
point seven million on his own. I told you before that his income had
significantly decreased, but it's not like he was a poor man. The engagement
ring he gave Diane was worth sixty thousand dollars. The loan she made to
Text was to expand the guesthouse, making it a real party house on the
property in the style of an Old West saloon. I've seen conflicting reports on
whose idea this was. Friends told reporters that it was Diane's. She loved
having huge parties on the ranch. Text was fine with that as long as
she could pay for it, but she made it a loan in his name
with interest. He was paying around fifteen hundred dollars a month on the loan,
just the interest. It was supposed to have been a three year loan,
but in twenty fourteen Diana extended the loan for another three years. Terry
Brown said that Text always made his payments on time. But the interesting thing
on this extension is that she put a codicil that if Text defaulted, she
could call on the loan and take controlling interest of the ranch. Well,
tex had already willingly put her name on the deed to the ranch when they
got married. This is where their finances seem murky to me. If she
really was the one who wanted the saloon party house, she certainly could afford
to pay for it, but she expected Text to and that condicul was her
insurance that he would pay for it. But the same friends who claimed the
saloon was her idea said that the loan through Text was merely for tax purposes.
She in Text also made new wills. In two thousand and five.
Much was made at Texas trial about the possibility of another new will that Diane
had recently made, but they never found proof of it. The other important
person to point out when it comes to the MacIvor finances is their godson,
Austin schwal His parents were divorced and he was the son of a Fulton County
judge. They both doted on the boy, but especially Diane, who never
had children of her own. Austin called her mommy die. She threw him
lavish birthday parties, paid for private school, and intended to pay for his
college. If there were issues with her will, it was discussed on an
offer for a few years. It was Austin Diane wanted to leave him everything,
but text wanted to leave all, or at least part, to the
son that still spoke to him. But Diane never legally changed her will.
Despite the rumors the prosecution continuously brought up, there was no proof. No
other will was ever found. The prosecution even put out an ad for any
Atlanta lawyer who might have worked on a will for Diane MacIvor to please come
forward. None did. But before we get into that, we need to
go back to that Sunday night on September sixth, twenty sixteen. I'm going
to pause now to hear a word from today's sponsors. That Sunday was a
hot day for September even in Georgia, with temperatures rising into the nineties.
Diane Texts and Danny Joe had been at the ranch all weekend. Danny Joe
later testified that Tex got up that morning and brought her on Diane coffee upstairs
before making breakfast for everyone. Liked doing little things like that. He was
always the courtly gentleman, even after ten years of marriage. Text and Diane
had given Danny Joe a horse, and that Sunday the mcgivers went to meet
a friend to play golf while Danny Joe stated the ranch to ride her horse.
Text later told investigators that his wife shot a seventy four that day while
he shot a ninety two. They all had a lot of fun that day
despite the heat. After they finished playing golf, Text and Diane picked up
Danny Joe to head back to Atlanta. Danny Joe said they poured wine in
a Yetti cup and sipped it as they headed to dinner and Conyers Georgia.
On the way back into the city, they were meeting a friend and colleague
of Diane's for dinner at the Longhorn Steakhouse. There, a bottle of red
wine was opened. Text later said he didn't drink much of it because he
didn't like it, but still after dinner, Danny Joe took over the driving
because Diane in text, had been drinking and she was sober. As they
neared Atlanta, travel on the Downtown Connector was a parking lot. Even at
ten pm on a Sunday night, you can count on Atlanta traffic being the
worst. Diane told Danny Joe to take the Edgewood Avenue exit, and then
she turned around and fussed Text to wake up. He had fallen asleep in
the back seat. Diane was in the front passenger seat and Text was directly
behind her. She didn't want him to fall asleep because she said he wouldn't
be able to sleep that night. When Tex woke up and looked around,
he said, quote, girls, this is a bad idea. This isn't
safe. He was talking about the area of Midtown they were in. Diane
said, we'll be on Piedmont shortly, but he said, quote, Darling,
hen me my gun, and Diane reached into the center console and pulled
out a snubnose thirty eight revolver wrapped in a plastic bag, and then she
handed it to her husband. And here is where everything went wrong. Text
took the gun and laid it in his lap and then knotted back off to
sleep. Danny Joe said that she was driving on Piedmont when she got stopped
by a red light at either twelfth or thirteenth Street, and then she heard
a boom. She thought at first that they had been hit by another car,
but Tex quickly said I discharged the gun and asked if everyone was all
right. Diane said, Text, what did you do? Danny Joe said
she thought there would be a bullet hole on the floor of the car,
and no one realized Diane was shot at first, not even Diane until she
started breathing heavy and slumped in her seat, and then she said, I've
been shot. At this, Tex leaned forward cradling her head as Danny Joe
stepped on the gas to speed to a hospital. This is another huge point
of contention at trial. Why didn't they just call nine one one? Danny
Joe admitted she was scared because of the location and wasn't sure how long it
would take to get an ambulance there. She had Piedmont Hospital in mind,
but didn't know the way. Tex spoke up and directed her to Emory Hospital,
which was not the closest. Even if it was the closest, anyone
from Atlanta can tell you that Grady Memorial Hospital has a renowned Level one trauma
unit. It handles almost all gunshot wounds in Atlanta. At trial, the
prosecution won't apply that Tex intended to go to a further away hospital, But
the truth is Emory Hospital was a client of his as a lawyer at Fisher
Phillips. He had represented the hospital and had been there many times. He
knew exactly where it was, and this makes sense to me. Despite the
fact that Grady was known to be the place for a gunshot wound, Tex
went to the first hospital he knew how to get to. What Tex and
Danny Joe didn't know was that there was a firehouse some three hundred yards or
so from where the SUV was sitting when Diane was shot, though the exact
distance is estimated because they were on a section of Piedmont where the traffic cameras
were not working. Danny Joe also wasn't sure which stoplight she was at,
so there were medics extremely close by. I think the decision to drive to
a hospital, any hospital, was a mistake. They should have called nine
one one At the hospital, texas seen on security cameras jumping out of the
suv and waving Danny Joe through to the emergency doors. He also helps get
his wife into a wheelchair. Doctor Suzanne Hardy took Diane's case at the er.
Diane made a spontaneous comment in front of the doctor while she was examining
her. She said, quote, it was an accident. At trial,
the prosecution focused on her only other statement. She said, I'm dying.
And then the doctor asked if she wanted to see her husband, and Diane
said no. To this, I say Diane was dying. Who knows if
she even understood the doctor's question. At that point, her blood pressure was
extremely low and she was about to be taken in for emergency surgery. The
other spontaneous comment can be considered a dying declaration. It was not an answer
to a question made under duress. Diane just said it. The bullet hit
where Diane's eleventh rib met her eleventh vertebra, scattering pieces of bone. It
then traveled through her left adrenal gland and left kidney and severed blood vessels,
going into her spleen, then through her pancreas and stomach, so blood quickly
started filling her abdominal cavity. The bullet missed her heart by centimeters, but
because it nicked those arteries, she bled out internally anyway. Doctor Hardy wanted
to transfer her to Grady, but Diane was never stable enough for transfer.
In the operating room, surgeons opened her abdomen only to find several liters of
blood close to what would be the total blood volume in her body. For
over an hour, surgeons fought to save Diane's life, tying off damaged blood
vessels and removing pieces of damaged organs, but her blood pressure kept dropping.
The attending surgeon's report read her chance of survival was zero at this stage.
There is no disagreement whatsoever among anyone involved, including all of the surgeons and
the antithesiologist, that we could have done anything differently and given her a chance
to survive. At the hospital, Tex called an old friend of his this
would wind up being a very bad decision. His friend was also an attorney,
an attorney who had represented him before. Stephen Maples is a Decatur attorney
who defended Text when he was charged in nineteen ninety with three counts of aggravated
assault for firing his pistol at a car with three young men inside. The
teens had been hanging out in the Cul de Sac of Texas neighborhood, playing
their music loud and annoying him. He tried seeking his dogs on them before
he got his gun out, but the charges were dropped when Techs agreed to
pay for the damages to the teen's car. And this was the guy who
sat on the American Bar Association Committee on gun violence. It's an example of
what the prosecution would later Seizon Pond tex was a politically connected white man.
He got away with that incident fifteen years earlier, and now he was involved
in another gun incident. At the hospital, Text and Stephen Maples were overheard
conferring, and Text was heard saying, what do I say? What do
I do? Naturally, there was much made of this at trial, but
honestly, if you had just shot your wife, even accidentally, wouldn't you
be scared? But optics are everything, and his behavior even while still at
the hospital put people off, and at this point he had no idea that
Diane had already told the doctor it was an accident. He went up to
Danny Joe and said, why don't you just say you weren't there? Things
like this can get so turned around. Just say you came here to be
with us as a friend. And Danny Joe told him no, she couldn't
do that, quote text, I just drove you to the r I can't
do that. Why would I be here at this time of night on a
Sunday without my own car. Joe talked to the Atlanta police right away and
insisted it was a tragic accident. She said there was no doubt in her
mind, and this was even after his strange request for her to lie at
the hospital. She didn't tell police about Texas request the first time they questioned
her, but she did the second time, and a very different Danny Joe
testified at trial. She did not change her story, but she was no
longer on Texas side. She now believed the shooting was intentional. I think
like everyone else, she was put off by Texas behavior. After Diane's death,
starting with him asking her to lie at the hospital. Afterwards, he
went so far as to call Danny Joe's husband and tell him to get Danny
Joe to retract what she told the police. Interestingly, Texas defense team found
another reason for Danny Joe's flip. Diane had loaned her money also as she
did for many friends and associates, and texts expected her to pay the loan.
Now, this isn't as heartless as it sounds. Tex was executor of
Diane's estate. Danny Joe wasn't the only friend expected to repay their loan.
And about TeX's behavior, well, first of all, Tex didn't go voluntarily
talk to police for two days. That does look bad. Why wouldn't you
just sit down with them right away if it was an accident? And why
didn't the police insist on speaking with him right away? I'm pretty sure if
I shot my husband, I would be questioned that same day, even with
a witness saying it was an accident. It does show that Tex was getting
preferential treatment. The police felt confident it was an accident after taking Danny Joe's
statement, So maybe this isn't as bad as it looks. But again,
optics are everything, and to the world, this looked like a rich white
lawyer with political connections. Wasn't being questioned by the police right away? And
why would he choose to wait? Friends say, Text was beside himself.
It wasn't to get his story straight. He was just in shock. When
he did finally talk to the police, he said the gun was in his
lap and it just went off. Text told police Quote, I was handling
the gun. I forgot it was in my lap and it just went off.
And I don't think he's lying. Text was diagnosed with rim behavioral disorder,
which means where most people don't act out their dreams, Texts often did
thrash around. Bill Rankin with the AJC podcast Breakdown explained this diagnosis very well.
He said, normally people have a wall between their dreams and actual bodily
movements and reaction to the dream. People with Rim behavioral disorder somehow, Quote
breached that wall. Specifically, Text would clench his fingers and thrash his arms.
A masseuse named Annie Anderson testified at Texas trial about his condition. He
often fell asleep while getting a massage and she had to be careful about where
she was standing in relation to his body if he fell asleep or he might
accidentally hit her. She also had to testify to deny allegations of a sexual
relationship with Texts. I will come back to this in a moment. The
next big mistake text made was hiring a pr consultant by the name of Bill
Crane. He made an official statement to the press that text was alarmed about
the recent unrest surrounding several Black Lives Matter protests in the area and feared that
they would be carjacked. This is the mistake that took this case. National
Black Lives Matter representatives across the country were outraged. In fact, there is
no evidence that there were protesters in that area on the ninth of September sixth.
As many people have said, Bill Crane injected race into a case where
it did not belong. I agree to a certain extent. First of all,
Tex mac Ivor denies ever saying this. He said Crane made that statement.
All he had said was that it was a bad area. Crane stands
by his statement and testified that Texts tried to get him to retract the statement.
This would lead to one of the three charges. The prosecution indicted texts
for of trying to manipulate a witness. The other two counts for the same
thing were for when he asked Danny Joe to lie and say she wasn't in
the suv that night, and also for the message he left on her husband's
voicemail. Text foolishly left the voicemail for Danny Joe's husband from jail. This
was before he made bond. He found out that Danny Joe told the police
what he had asked her to do, and he called her husband to ask
him to get Danny Joe to stop talking to the police. Oh and he
also said delete this message, except all calls coming out of the Fulton County
Jail are recorded. Foolish indeed, and that is what I think is Tex
mac Ivor's huge problem. He was arrogant and foolish. But before he had
ever even been indicted, he made his next huge mistake. Within days of
Diane's death, he was taking inventory of her extensive collection of cature clothing,
vers, shoes, hats, and jewelry, and then he auctioned everything off.
He held three auctions actually, and this is really hard for people to
swallow. It was tacky. It was unseemly and it definitely looked callous.
But Diane's estate lawyer actually advised Texts to do this until they could look wuidate
assets to cover not only her bequests but other financial issues related to her estate
and just the wrapping up of her life. But still this looked awful.
The estate lawyer spoke with the AJAC and defended the advice he gave, saying
those clothes would appreciate within a year when styles change, and also you need
to sell winter clothes. At the start of winter. Diane had one hundred
and thirty seven fur coats. The auctions were held in early December. Okay,
I get all of that, but it's hard to believe that this guy
and text both thought that this was a good idea. But then I think
about it this way. Tech said it was an accident. I don't think
he really believed that he would be prosecuted, so why not follow the lawyer's
advice. He was not officially charged until December twenty first, after the auctions,
and he was charged with involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct. One big point
of contention with this auction is not only how it looked. There were some
ruby and diamond pieces that had been willed to a friend of Diane's with the
same birthstone. If he was really auctioning to honor requests, why would he
auction pieces for someone in the will, pieces that she was supposed to get.
Well, she wasn't supposed to get those pieces. According to the AJC,
in total, there was a ruby ring, bracelet, and earrings that
brought around eighteen thousand dollars at auction. Now that's no small amount, but
Diane had many other ruby and diamond pieces, and in fact, there was
a ring, bracelet and earrings valued at more than one hundred thousand that he
did not auction. He was saving those for her friend. Texas bond was
set at seventy five thousand dollars, which he quickly made and was out until
trial. By April, prosecutors served multiple subpoenas for the mc iver's financial records.
Now it would seem that the DA's office did not agree with the Atlanta
PD. They didn't believe this was an accident. During the search of Texas
condo, a glock pistol was found in his saut drawer. This was a
violation of his bond. He had all other firearms removed from the condo and
ranch except this one. The judge revoked Texas bond, and then a few
days later, on April twenty seventh, he was indicted on a charge of
malice murder. George's malice murder charge is what many states refer to as first
degree murder. The DA indicted Texts on seven additional counts. He was also
charged with felony murder, which is what other states call second degree murder,
then aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm, and commission
of a felony, and those three charges of trying to influence what aness that
I told you about. And this trial would be dramatic in so many ways.
For one, they had a judge who allowed jurors to ask questions throughout
the trial, not just in deliberations. This is highly unusual and something the
defense attorneys didn't like. If the state wasn't making their case clear enough,
that's on them. This judge allowing clarification questions clearly gives the prosecution a leg
up. Prosecutor Clint Rucker is one of those preacher prosecutors and natural born theatrical
speaker he uses that thing where he says something and then repeats it for emphasis.
He recites poetry or scripture. His booming voice and lyrical way of speaking
is very effective in a court room. In late October of twenty seventeen,
three days before the trial was to begin, the prosecution asked for a continuance,
saying they felt the defense needed more time, which was some hilarious legal
wrangling because the defense strongly disputed this. If they needed a continuance, they
would have asked for it. Bill Rankin with AJC said that the prosecution was
actually still looking for evidence to support their indictment of malice murder, so they
put it on hold for four months and then came back. The AJC also
pointed out that they had some ninety thousand email to go through between texts and
Diane. The state's position is that Tex mac Ivor needed, not just wanted
his wife's fortune. They also brought up the specter of supposed affairs he was
having, which was convenient as it was the reason his ex wife divorced him,
but they could never find any proof of an affair. Tex worshiped his
wife. The state brought a woman named Annie Anderson. To testify. She
was the messuse I mentioned earlier. She came over and gave massages to Diane
and text regularly. Being wealthy people, they didn't make appointments at a salon.
They had a personal messuse who came to their house. And it's important
to note that she treated both the mac Ivors and also considered them close friends,
as did many of their employees. Annie Anderson and Rachel Styles, Diane's
other personal assistant, stayed with texts the first couple of days after the shooting
because they were afraid he would mix up his medication and hurt himself. Annie
slept on the floor in Texas room. The prosecution had a fuelled day with
this. But you know what is gross. Their godson, Austin was sleeping
in the bed with texts. Were they insinuating that he had sex with Annie
with his godson in the room. For her part, Annie Anderson was angry
and humiliated that this was even insinuated. She was a professional and this accusation
was detrimental to her career. And what's more, she cared about the mac
Ivers That is really clear in her testimony. But aside from imaginary affairs,
all the state really had was money. Tex wanted Diane's money. As I
told you, his income had drastically decreased at his age. He was no
longer an equity partner, but an income partner, and his expenses at the
ranch were exorbitant, and it is something he and Diane were talking about.
In an email the state found, he tells her he's trying to reduce his
monthly expenses. She then playfully suggests that he'd take over the job of his
ranch hand at the Putnam County ranch. He says, well, guess it's
back to being a jiggalow. And the state thought this was nefarious. The
defense thought it was playful banter. Yes, there were money issues, but
Tex still made money, and he and Diane were both millionaires. They would
work it out. To me, this sounds very much like playful banter.
I would hate for a prosecutor to see some of the texts I sent to
my own husband when joking around. Danny Joe Carter was the state's star witness
at trial. They later even called her the MVP. But the biggest problem
with the state's case is all the promises they made in the opening statement.
They continued to allude to a second will, a will that could never prove
existed. It was never found. It's why they wanted to go through all
those emails and when they did find an email talking about wills, but nothing
was formalized. The lawyer who was copied on this email told the AJAC that
drafting a will for people is kind of like selling life insurance. Folks keep
putting this stuff off because they don't want to think about it. The lawyer
didn't think it was fishy at all, and yes, the state proved that
Tex was ever spending and his income had gone down, but in reality,
Diane made more money than him. If he was really worried that much about
money, it makes more sense for Diane to live. She was the breadwinner,
and every friend agreed that they were in love, ridiculously in love,
the kind of couple who, after five years of dating and ten years of
marriage, still held hands all the time. Friends turned on Tech by the
time of the trial because of his many bad, callous looking choices. He
did auction off her things, and he also asked a colleague of hers if
he would be able to draw her Social Security benefits. This was only a
few days after her death. And that's the problem with Tex. He not
only takes bad advice, but he makes bad decisions. But none of that
makes him a murderer. I do think he was worried about how he would
live out his days, how he would maintain this lifestyle. And he could
also just be a greedy bastard. That's true, but I don't think he
killed her over it. She was the one keeping him in such a lavish
lifestyle to begin with, and he adored her. Even friends who turned against
him couldn't argue with that. It's why they found it so shocking. At
trial, Text did not take the stand in his own defense. I am
not going to take you, gabbled to Gabble through the trial of Tex MacIvor.
I would rather point you to the excellent podcast breakdown by the AJAC that
I've already mentioned. Their long form podcast on this case covers Texas trial extensively,
so I will just give you some highlights. There were competing firearms experts.
One sticking point is that no one knows if the gun was actually cocked.
The police didn't ask that question right away, and Text later said he
couldn't remember. The difference is if it wasn't cocked. It takes twelve pounds
of pressure to pull that trigger. If it was cocked, it takes less
than two pounds. That makes a lot more sense for an accidental shooting.
There was no way to know for sure, but I am willing to bet
that after Diane handed text the gun, he cocked it to be ready and
had it sitting in his lap, and then he did not off back to
sleep. And many people have difficulty with this. If he was afraid enough
to ask for his gun, how could he just not off to this?
I say he was seventy three years old, he had played golf and the
hot Georgia son for four hours, and then had been drinking wine. The
defense also made some really good points about why if he wanted to kill his
wife would he do it this way? Why try and shoot her in the
car through the seat. There was a great chance that the bullet could have
ricocheted back at him or get lodged in Diane's seat. There's any possible scenario
that would have made this a strange way to kill his wife, the first
problem being that he did it in front of her best friend. But the
prosecution did do a good job of making texts out to be the entitled,
white, rich, politically connected man he was. None of that is false.
It just makes the police look bad for not going after him harder in
the first place. However, I don't think the police were going that easy
on him. The detective on his case had worked over forty malice murder cases
before. He had an ex excellent record. He had an eyewitness that said
it was an accident. He had a dying declaration from the victim saying it
was an accident. I will say that they definitely should have brought him in
for formal questioning that night, if for no other reason than protocol. If
his connections helped at all, it was that they gave him those couple of
days before their formal interview. The problem was both the prosecution and defense,
when all or nothing in closing arguments, both asked the jury not to find
him guilty of involuntary manslaughter. The defense wanted a straight not guilty this was
an accident. The state wanted premeditated malice murder, so the original involuntary manslaughter
charge was taken off the table. The jury could choose malice or felony,
or they could find him not guilty, but that was it. During deliberations,
the jury kept sending out questions that made the defense feel pretty good.
They didn't seem to grasp the life legal definition of intent. Things were looking
pretty good for Texts, especially once the jury sent word that they were deadlocked,
but the judge gave them instructions to keep deliberating, and then they came
back with a confusing verdict. They found Tex guilty of felony murder, aggravated
assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm, and commission of a
felony, and witness influencing. The reason it's confusing is felony murder is like
second degree murder. It means a person was killed in the commission of another
felony. In this case, that would be the aggravated assault charge, meaning
there was no actual intent to kill Diane, but just to harm her.
See what I mean by the jury not understanding intent. So why did they
decide this way with the conflicting verdicts. Why would Text shoot Diane unless he
meant to kill her? The problem here lies in what the jury was not
allowed to ask. Malice murder and felony murder have the same punishments, but
they were not allowed to ask how long Text would go to prison for these
offenses. They did ask, but of all the questions that this judge allowed,
he refused this one. And it is a matter of law, except
in capital cases, juries are not to consider punishment during their deliberations. Maybe
they thought that felony murder was a lesser charge, when in reality it's basically
the same in terms of punishment. Tex MacIvor will spend the rest of his
natural life in prison he would have if he had been convicted of malice murder.
Also, I think the defense made a crucial mistake with all or nothing
charged to the jury. Typically, all types of murder charges are on an
indictment to give the jury and out if they don't believe it was premeditated.
It's not surprising the prosecution one of this charge removed, But it was the
defense who really rolled the dice. Here. Tex is now embroled in a
wrongful death suit with Diane's estate. But here's the thing, so is Danny
Joe Carter. She is named in the same suit. The suit says that
she breached the duty of driving in a safe manner at all times, but
specifically cites her decision not to call nine one one and to drive to an
ear instead. As of May of twenty nineteen, the lawsuit hasn't been settled,
so I'm sure by now you guys know what I think. I think
Tux mac Ivor was guilty of involuntary manslaughter due to reckless conduct. I do
not believe he intended to murder his wife. I think he is an old
man who had handled guns his whole life and never thought something like this could
happen to him. I think it was a horrible tragedy, and his behavior
after the fact was shitty. He took bad advice and also made several bad
choices on his own. He really was his own worst enemy. But being
a dumbass does not make you a murderer. And you know what, maybe
race did belong in this trial, regardless of whether Tax made the Black Lives
Matter comment or if it was really his pr guy, the specter of race
is there. This bad spot of town they were stopped at wasn't just about
homeless people, It was about black people. Tex was an old white guy.
His automatic response to this kind of neighborhood is indicative of his own racial
bias, whether he was conscious of it or not. And ironically, Diane
mcgiver had donated money to the Blue Lives Matter campaign in Atlanta, tex may
Or may not have understood the Black Lives Matter movement, but it would seem
that his wife did. Either way. When he awoke on this dark street,
he didn't feel safe, so he said, Darling, hand me my
gun, and Diane mcgiver handed her husband the gun that killed her. Southern
Fried True Crime is written and produced by me Erica Kelly, the original graphic
artist by Khey Horner, and Southern Fred's original music is by Rob Harrison of
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