ATLANTA — For more than two hours Friday, the court heard from an emergency room nurse who worked the night prominent attorney Tex McIver brought his wife Diane to Emory Hospital with a gunshot wound.
The September 2016 shooting that ultimately killed Diane happened inside the car being driven by Diane's friend. Tex told police he was in the backseat with Diane in the front when his gun fired, shooting her. He maintains it was a terrible accident.
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During proceedings Friday, one of the nurses who testified told the jury it was not common for gunshot victims to come to their E.R. because they don't have a trauma center, unlike Grady Hospital or Atlanta Medical Center, something she said was well-known.
That nurse, Theresa Sullivan also said she suspected something suspicious as the McIvers arrived to the hospital. Sullivan told the jury that nobody in the car called 911 about the shooting before arriving at Emory. And, as Diane headed into the operating room, Sullivan said she noticed Tex in the hospital hallway with several people around him, including at least one lawyer.
Sullivan recalled someone there taking notes on a legal pad and hearing someone say, "This is what you're going to tell them."
"I had the impression that a plan was being enacted," Sullivan said from the witness stand. "They were actually huddling, like you would think a sports team, literally holding on to each other in a small circle."
"Like a football huddle," a lawyer questioned.
"Yes," she confirmed.
Tex's defense attorney pushed back, questioning the Sullivan's statement that most of Atlanta knows Emory doesn't have a trauma center. He also asked the nurse if she knew in what context the quote she claimed to overhear was said.
Sullivan acknowledged that she didn't know what was said before or after that statement.
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'He wasn't distraught, he wasn't emotional. Nothing.' Nurses testify on Diane McIver's final moments
But that Sullivan's testimony wasn't the only one heard in court Friday. The jury also heard testimony from the Emory doctor Susanne Hardy, who was there when Diane spoke her last words before heading into the operating room where she ultimately died.
Hardy said Diane was coherent and responded to all her questions about her injury and medical history. Hardy also described to the courtroom how Diane declined to see her husband Tex before she was taken into the operating room. Lawyers questioned the doctor, asking whether she knew if Diane was was coherent when before surgery.
"And she appeared to be coherent when she said no, correct," the state asked Hardy.
"Yes," she replied.
"She said it was an accident. She wasn't under any duress when she said it," they questioned further.
"No," Hardy answered.
"You didn't steer her one way or another to get her to say something," the state asked.
"No," she answered again.
"In her coherent state she said it was an accident," the state questioned one last time.
"Yes," Hardy concluded.
In earlier testimony, it was also described that Diane and Tex weren't arguing leading up to the shooting. Several doctors and nurses testified that while at the hospital, Tex didn't show any signs of anxiety, but remained calm and polite when updated throughout the night by staff about his wife's condition.
However, during testimony Friday, the court did learn that Tex admitted himself to the hospital for anxiety. Nurses who treated him testified Tex showed no signs of anxiety, but asked for "something to help him cope."
