The murder retrial of Claud “Tex” McIver that was scheduled to start Monday, Dec. 4 has now been postponed, according to reports.
On Tuesday morning, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert C.I. McBurney excused prospective jurors from the jury selection process. McBurney said the trial is delayed so the Georgia Supreme Court can rule on what evidence is admissible, according to news reports.
McBurney had issued a written order preventing prosecutors from alleging at the retrial that McIver intended to kill his wife, Diane McIver when he shot her in September 2016, reveals an article by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office reportedly plans to appeal the order to the Supreme Court, hence the postponement of the trial.
McIver is accused of fatally shooting his wife, Diane, in 2016 while they were traveling from their Putnam County home to their Buckhead condominium. In April 2018, a Fulton County jury convicted McIver of malice murder, aggravated assault, firearm possession, and influencing a witness.
In June 2022, the Supreme Court of Georgia reversed that conviction, saying the trial court erred in not offering jurors “the lesser grade of involuntary manslaughter.” He was released to Fulton County authorities that September, with District Attorney Fani Willis saying she would try him again.
At a bond hearing in November, McIver’s attorney Donald F. Samuel said McIver had experienced “a significant deterioration in mental acuity,” and had problems remembering and communicating logically. But McBurney said McIver’s age does not afford him special treatment and ruled that McIver must remain in custody until and during the retrial.
Samuels reportedly said McIver will turn 80 on Dec. 22 and he plans to ask McBurney again to grant him bond.