Bob Cheely
Appearances
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
I just want you to know that the purpose of the deposition is to understand what you know about Diane Smith McIver's wishes for her estate. The proceeds from the sale of the ranch, one of the things I want to ask you about today.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
She helped take care of Austin, Diane did, from a very early age, correct? That's correct. And how often would you say she saw Austin in his 10 years of life during the time that she was living?
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
So you all had, you and Diane had horses there? Yes. And did you have cows too? Yes, sir.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
You only met him today for the first time, so I appreciate you just reserving your speeches for the judge, not here. You want to make an objection to the form of the question? Do so.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
Mr. Frankel, you're not the judge.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
So all you have to do is make an objection to the form of the question, and it will be noted. But you don't need to sit here and lecture me about how to do a deposition, sir.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
Okay, and that would have included bequeathing the ranch to the boys? Yes. To the Swell brothers? Yes.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
All right. And you were willing to do the same, right?
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
Did Diane ever say she wanted to leave any of those people anything in her estate?
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
You and Ann were both standing there at the school bus stop and he said, what's wrong? As soon as he saw you. Isn't that right?
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
probate in the Fulton County Court. You've entered into, I guess, preliminarily a pending court approval of partial distribution, certain assets under the estate of Diane McIver.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
distribution of a special bequest under her will to you of a life estate, is that correct? I think that's right. And it was some $337,000, roughly?
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
Craig, what was it he called Diane?
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
Everybody that I've spoken to to develop the evidence for the legal proceeding that we're involved in on Austin's behalf echoed the same thing. If we had five minutes with her in heaven to interview her, she would say, Austin is who I want to see have everything that I left behind.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
Well, first of all, this is a unique case. It's never, to our knowledge, never occurred in Georgia, maybe not even the nation, where you had a spouse who died by bullet. And you've got a number of heirs at law, but you also have Austin, who was her darling child, godchild.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
Thank goodness that Georgia has what's called equitable remedies so that a judge or jury can take into account in circumstances like this where there's no doubt that a gun in the hand of Tex MacGyver pulled the trigger and resulted in her death. So if you had the chance to ask Diane in heaven, would you want your husband who shot you to benefit from your death?
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
She would most certainly say absolutely not. She would want it all to go to Austin, who has her heart and who has his whole life ahead of him. Now that she's gone, she would want him to have all of her treasures.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
Well, the only standing is that which is created by law. That's for the overwhelming number of cases where somebody dies. You know that they had a will, but you can't find the will.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
I've asked Billy Corey and everybody that worked here at Corey Enterprises, which is where we are today, if Diane ever mentioned any of these people's names that are listed on the proceedings filed by Mary Margaret Oliver as administrator. And they say no, she never mentioned any of them. She never, to their knowledge, never went to see them. They never visited her. They didn't attend the trial.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
Therefore, that's where the equitable remedy comes in. The court and the jury, if there is a jury, should decide where the money goes based on what would Diane want if she was here. What would she say?
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
We'll take it, I guess the best way for me to answer that is we take the facts as we found them to be in the transcript of the murder trial. And we take the facts as the Supreme Court of Georgia found them to be justifying a new trial.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
We're going to contest it. There's absolutely no reason that anyone who knew Diane would... There's not going to be anybody, I dare say, that will take the stand under oath and say that Diane under these circumstances would have wanted Tex to have anything because he was responsible for her premature and untimely death.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
And she was deprived of watching Austin Schwal grow up and become a young man. He's now a senior in high school. He's going to be going off to college next year. And she set up a college fund for him when he was a baby. And she was investing in him. She was investing in his future. And she loved him as if he was her own child.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
To my knowledge, they did not. At least he hasn't indicated to me as much.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
It is. It is. It's a surreal experience for him to have to realize that somebody he had a friendship with is now behind bars for shooting his wife. And, you know, it's just hard for him to wrap his head around You know, where does he go from here? You know, he doesn't have any control over what Tex did. And he doesn't have any control about the sentence that Tex received.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
But he does have some say-so because he was named by Mary Margaret Oliver as a co-defendant along with approximately 30 other people to get to the truth of what Diane's desires were. And that's where we go from here.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
That's my understanding from speaking to Mary Margaret Oliver, that there's $3 million plus $1.4 million.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
No doubt about it. I had just recently, Greg and Ann, Austin's mom, calls to be delivered to my office just stacks of picture albums that Diane had put together from the time that Austin was born, these parties, birthday parties that she would throw for him and invite all of his friends to her farm over near Lake Sinclair and they called it the ranch.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
there is no doubt once you see these videos of those birthday parties and everything as Austin grew that she adored him and she would you didn't see any of these cousins about how put it that way at the birthday parties they weren't invited so I think she made it real clear she's
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
If anyone could speak from the grave through these things that she put together and left behind, it would be Diane McIver saying, I want Austin to have this.