Claude “Tex” McIver murder conviction overturned by Georgia Supreme Court

There are good attorneys and then there are great ones. Much like a cancer center, most leave broke.

I can't believe the state even brought charges in the McIver case, based on what they could or could not prove actually happened in that car. There's only one witness, the defendent.

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I was listening to coverage of this on WSB the other day and couldn’t help but think about how WSB sensationalized the McIver and Harris murder trials like they were a soap opera. Now both convictions have been overturned. IDK I’m not saying it’s their fault but there is a common theme here.

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I thought both trials got sensationalized. JRH's wife stated she thought there is no way that he would have purposely murdered his son. I know people that know him and said the same thing. They proved he is a pervert and adulterer but there seems reasonable doubt he is murderer. Still I think the video camera of him going to the car after lunch is what really turned the jury and initially got the DA to go after this case. I could not grasp how McIver supposedly murdered his wife either. MO both of these were over-zealous DAs who maybe thought they could gain recognition from a high profile trial. It will be interesting to see if the defense attorneys can get a plea deal from the DA now. I can't imagine or remember when 2 high profile cases had to go back to trial.

They are going to re-try him. Litigator, is this not a double jeopardy violation?

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There's only one witness, the defendent.

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Pretty sure that a friend of theirs was driving the car. He was in the back seat and she was in the front passenger.

I remember thinking Murder was a crazy charge in this case. Seemed like an accident, but also negligence cause he shouldn’t have had the gun out falling asleep

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Seemed like an accident, but also negligence cause he shouldn’t have had the gun out falling asleep

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He was heavily in debt to his wife. If you study the facts of the case you’ll get the motive. It was pre-meditated.

The right way to quit a case is to file a motion to withdraw and get the court to grant the motion which occurs with frequency. That way the lawyer should have good cover. Of course if it is too late in the case the court could deny the motion and the lawyer would be forced to continue representation. That would be a rarity and would only likely occur if you were in a situation where it was in the middle of a trial, etc. There are certain situations where a lawyer must ethically seek withdrawal from a case such as where continuing representation would itself violate ethical rules (such as a conflict of interest or a client advising you he is going to testify and commit perjury}.

But to your specific question I know of no reason why an attorney could not quit and surrender his law license at any point but there might be repercussions from that such as contempt or sanctions and even if he never intended to practice law again he may very well get sanctioned. And if the client suffers prejudice as a result of an attorney's walking out of the case the attorney could be sued for malpractice. This is not the way to go about getting off of a case. He should always seek to withdraw and state the reasons therefore regardless of what he ultimately intends to do.

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Must be pretty tough for you to watch movies and TV shows that try and portray your trade. I bet most everyone can relate to that actually when it comes to whatever their area(s) of expertise are

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Like a lady calling up a logistics manager for a mis-shipped pallet and the logistics manager just asks her to hold on to it overnight.

Have you ever seen lawyers throw a case on purpose?

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Have you ever seen lawyers throw a case on purpose?

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Personally I have not. Of course there are cases where mistrials occur and some of those are caused by the conduct of attorneys. In the criminal law arena there is a whole body of law that has developed that provides that if a prosecutor intentionally caused a mistrial then double jeopardy prevents a retrial. Normally in cases of a mistrial the case can be teed up for trial again.