The prosecution has been building its case against Tex McIver for three weeks now, putting up dozens of witnesses and questioning some of them for hours.
The new episode of our “Breakdown” podcast, which drops early Monday, examines the state’s case. McIver, of course, built part of the case against him without assistance, asking one key witness to lie, setting up a giant auction of his wife’s belongings and other such missteps.
But the prosecution needs something more than the smoking gun it already has: proof that Tex McIver intended to shoot and kill his wife, Diane.
Even after three weeks, that proof still seems more theoretical than real. A purported second will written by McIver’s wife was allegedly “secreted” from the prosecution. But the state has found neither the will nor solid proof that such a document was ever prepared.
In addition, the state has shown that McIver was a crack shot and a fanatic about gun safety. Those are damaging details, but they don’t prove McIver intended to pull the trigger the night he killed his wife.
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Also, the prosecution has pointed out repeatedly that McIver was alone with his private masseuse in the days after his wife’s death. The masseuse, who also massaged Diane McIver and her boss, Billy Corey, has not taken the stand. But there’s no evidence — at least, none that’s been introduced — of anything improper between McIver and the masseuse.
The state continued to present evidence of highly suspicious – and, some would say, incriminating – things McIver did in the days and weeks after his wife’s death. But in some ways, this prosecution has been a campaign of innuendo and insinuation.
One other intriguing note from Week 3 of the trial: The prosecution played a WSB-TV interview with McIver, taped shortly after the shooting, in which he said, “Guns are not my thing.” Then the state produced the dozens of firearms it had confiscated from McIver’s homes, stacking them all on a table right in front of the jury.
Find out more in Episode 8 of “Breakdown: The McIver Murder Case.” You can download the episode from Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or your favorite podcasting platform. Or you can stream it directly from our website, right here, right now:
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