J. Tom Morgan
Appearances
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
All of a sudden we have the prosecutor saying, okay, you can plead guilty and we'll take the Slayer statute out of this, but as long as you give $1.5 million to Judge Schwal's son. Can, and also the prosecutor who has, you know, the DA's office has cases in front of Judge Schwal. Everybody knows everybody in this case.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
I have tremendous respect for Judge Schwal, have tremendous respect for Judge McBurney and Mary Margaret Oliver. But at the same time, because everybody knows everybody, somebody out from the outside should have been brought in. So we wouldn't be having this discussion.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
Well, Tex MacGyver would have to agree to sign over $1.5 million from the wrongful death settlement to Craig Schwal. How do you not have that? If somebody's going to give you $1.5 million, I think they're going to give me a heads up. I sure hope so.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
again having known diane and i didn't know tets but i knew a lot of people who knew tets their relationship you know seemed okay though when they bought their piece of property that you know in middle georgia that tets like to call a ranch most of us from georgia will call it a farm But Diane made sure that Tetz gave her a promissory note for his part.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
As we now know, they're Diane's heirs who are getting ready to file a lawsuit under our Georgia Slayer statute. We've got a... a defendant in a criminal case who may or may not be entitled to even have access to this money, directing that this money go to this third party.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
Mary Margaret is a tremendous trust and estates lawyer. I've known her for 40 years. I don't think she saw that the Slayer statute would come into play from these other persons. I can't second guess what Mary Margaret's doing. If I needed a trust and estate lawyer, I would probably go to Mary Margaret. But at the same time, she's caught up too, I think, in this plea deal in a criminal case.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
What's the path for the residual $3 million? That's where the Slayer Statute kicks in. You should not inherit if you cause the death feloniously, according to George Orwell, which means murder. felony murder, and voluntary manslaughter. So any of those would stop you from in Harrington. So we have a group of heirs out there. They may be distant heirs. They may not even known Diane.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
That doesn't matter. They are entitled under Georgia law to be an heir of the estate if Tex McIver is feloniously guilty. How do you prove that? One, it's a criminal case, as was done in this case. The second is a civil case. Those heirs have the right to sue, and everybody knew that they were out there. And so they should have been brought in in this criminal case, but they weren't.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
That's not your typical marriage arrangement. I think it goes back to that Diane was the one who had the business sense. They did not have any children. Tetz had children from a previous marriage. So I think Diane wanted to be careful with her assets, to be honest. I think Diane would take business over a marriage any day.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
It is bizarre both from the legal criminal and the civil as well. So I was not terribly surprised to see that Tex MacGyver was found guilty of murder and felony murder, certainly felony murder. Eventually, the judge gets reversed, not on the sufficiency of the evidence, but for the jury charge. Supreme Court said he should have given a lesser included charge.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
Well, the jury is found guilty of the most serious charge and felony murder, two very serious charges. In J. Tom's opinion, it didn't have to turn out this way. Well, I think this is really sloppiness on both the prosecutor and the judge in this case. as I tell prosecutors and I tell my students, is that if the defense asks for a lesser charge, give it to them.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
Let the jury hear everything, because if they're going to be found guilty of a lesser charge, they're guilty of a lesser charge. In this case, I am 100% believe that had the judge given the lesser charge, he still would have been found guilty of murder and felony murder. It would have not made a difference. But it was a mistake that didn't need to be made.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
I think the Supreme Court was second-guessing the jury here. And the Supreme Court did not see the case as much as I did. I think this was a good question for a jury. That's why we have juries. Jurors decide issues of fact and law. And these 12 people hearing all the facts decided that he was guilty of murder. Is it something the Supreme Court shouldn't have reversed?
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
I would meet Billy at the Downwinds restaurant there at P Street DeKalb Airport. And if you didn't know it was Billy Corey, you thought it was a poor homeless man sitting at the table hoping somebody would buy him a cheeseburger. But once you got to know him and to know Diane as well, you could see they were very talented at making money.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
I don't think in this case, I think the lesser charge failure to give it should have been a harmless error instead of a reversal.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
So here we go again, and then now we end up with this civil case that is in the plea, the judge directs that part of the settlement go to the son of another Superior Court judge who is not an heir in this case, who doesn't have a fight in this case.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
It's just that is where things really seem to go off the rails of common sense, that we have a plea agreement between a prosecutor, a defense attorney, and a judge, takes all three. And part of that plea agreement is that the money from the wrongful death suit, not the rest of the estate, and again, the public doesn't know there's a few million in the rest of the state.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
All we know is that the proceeds from the wrongful death suit are going to this third party who has not filed a lawsuit. It's just we all agree that this third party somehow should get, what, 1.5 million and going, how? So it's the craziest case I've ever seen in Georgia history.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
Billy would make money with Democrats, Republicans, Independents. It didn't matter.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
I agree with Billy 100% because this plea deal took everybody involved. And you're not just sitting there getting $1.5 million without knowing what's going on. The Schwalls were friends with both Diane and Tetz, but you and I have a lot of friends that we're not going to give $1.5 million to. For this deal to go through, and the judge gave his approval. Now, I know Judge McBurney.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
I think he's extremely highly ethical. But at the same time, as I teach my students in ethics, the appearance of a conflict can be just as powerful as a real conflict. So for a judge to give his blessings to a plea deal that gives $1.5 million to the son of another Superior Court judge, we need to bring somebody else in.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
I met Billy Corey when I worked for a law firm in Atlanta, and he was one of our clients. And that's how I got to know Diane as well. I'm a professor here at Western Carolina University, where I teach criminal law, criminal procedure, and legal ethics to students.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
And I sat through a good bit of the trial, just as a curious observer, not for any particular person. The whole story, both sides, didn't make sense, the prosecution theory and the defense theory.