Jury selection starts for Tex McIver case

Jury selection reveals potential challenges for defense team.

Even though no one has produced a copy, jurors in the Tex McIver trial will hear about his late wife’s second will — a potentially crucial piece of evidence in a fatal shooting that prosecutors argue was financially driven murder.

Jury selection may prove more time-consuming than originally assumed. Of the 31 people who were questioned Monday, 16 were excused, many because they found McIver’s version of events difficult to swallow.

“When I heard the gun went off accidentally, that just didn’t ring true,” said one prospective juror, who was excused. “Some-

one has to pull the trigger. They just don’t accidentally discharge.”

McIver says he fell asleep in the back seat of the couple’s Ford Expedition while holding his .38 caliber Smith and Wesson in his lap that fateful day in September 2016. He says the gun went off accidentally; the bullet hit his wife, Diane, who was sitting in the front passenger seat. Her close friend, Dani Jo Carter, was driving.

The prosecution is searching for jurors who will be able to separate allegedly “dumb” or racially tinged statements made by McIver from the crimes he is accused of committing, said Dunwoody attorney Esther Panitch, who is closely following the trial.

McIver, 75, is also charged with attempted bribery, obstruction and three counts of influencing witnesses in the days after the fatal shooting.

“None of (McIver’s) negative qualities, save for those related to money, have anything to do with his possible motive,” Panitch said.

But they do make the defense’s job more difficult. Jurors will hear, for instance, how a few days after his wife’s death, McIver allegedly told his former spokesman that he had his gun out because he was fearful

of his surroundings, mentioning a Black Lives Matter protest nearby. Seeking to avoid heavy traffic, Carter had pulled off the Downtown Connector onto Edgewood Avenue.

McIver didn’t mention Black Lives Matter in his initial statement to police.

“What was the rationale for changing those statements?” lead prosecutor Clint Rucker asked.

The defense said that information adds a racial component that is irrelevant to the case.

Jurors will also hear testimony regarding the controversial estate sale of Diane McIver’s jewels and clothing a few months after she died.

While McIver’s decision not to call 911 after the shooting will be allowed into evidence, the state may not introduce testimony that the defendant opted to bypass Grady Memorial Hospital, even though it is the best option, treatment-wise, for a shooting victim.

Jury selection resumes today.

ALYSSA POINTER PHOTOS / ALYSSA.POINTER@AJC.COM Claud “Tex” McIver looks toward Chief Judge Robert McBurney on Monday during the first day of jury selection for his case in a Fulton County courtroom.

Defense attorney Bruce Harvey (left) speaks with Fulton County Chief Assistant District Attorney Clint Rucker during the first day of jury selection for the Tex McIver case before Fulton County Chief Judge Robert McBurney on Monday.

ALYSSA POINTER PHOTOS / ALYSSA.POINTER@AJC.COM Fulton County Chief Judge Robert McBurney raises his hand Monday to repeat an oath for the possible jury to repeat during the first day of jury selection for the Tex McIver case. McIver is accused of fatally shooting his wife.

A binder containing information pertaining to the Tex McIver case sits on the Fulton County district attorney’s desk. McIver, 75, is also charged with attempted bribery, obstruction and three counts of influencing witnesses in the days after the fatal...