BREAKING: Prominent Atlanta attorney Tex McIver found GUILTY of killing his wife

A Fulton County jury found former prominent Atlanta attorney Tex McIver guilty of several charges on Monday, including felony murder.

WSB-TV reports that after a total of 23 hours of deliberation, the jury decided that McIver was guilty of felony murder, aggravated assault, possession of a weapon during the commission of a felony, and influencing witnesses.

As CrimeOnline previously reported, McIver, “a lawyer of 44 years and senior partner at the firm of Fisher Phillips” according to CNN, was riding in the rear seat of a Ford Expedition SUV in September 2016, while his wife Diane McIver rode in the front passenger seat when he shot her, fatally injuring her. McIver claimed that the gun, a .38-caliber snub-nose revolver, went off by accident.

(Bob Andres /Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool, FILE)

Prosecutors said that McIver’s behavior after his wife’s death was a major factor in adding on the additional charges of influencing witnesses and aggravated assault. For instance, McIver told the person driving the SUV when the incident happened, Patricia “Dani Jo” Carter, to say she wasn’t there. Carter was one Diane McIver’s close friends. A few weeks later in October, McIver called Carter’s husband, Thomas Carter, and told him to tell his wife to stop communicating about the incident with law enforcement.

Tex McIver also asked a family friend, Charles William Crane, to retract a Black Lives matter statement he told the media. Previously, Tex McIver allegedly instructed Crane to act as his spokesperson and tell the public the gun was pulled out during a Black Lives Matters movement, but later changed his mind about the statement.

 

Crane told police that Patricia Carter pulled off of the Interstate in Putnam County, Georgia, because they were afraid of Black Lives Matters protesters in the area. Supposedly, McIver pulled a gun from the middle console in the SUV to protect himself from the protesters, and the pistol accidentally shot off and hit his wife. Later, the suspect said that the story wasn’t true and that he actually pulled the gun out because he was afraid of homeless people in the area, but he dozed off in the back seat, and the gun went off.

Tex and Diane McIver [Handout]
Another reason for the upgraded charges was evidence found in Tex McIver’s home. In December, McIver was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter and misdemeanor reckless conduct He was out on bond when he got arrested again on Wednesday after police found a gun hidden in his sock drawer, which violated his bond conditions.

After the shooting, Diane McIver was rushed to Emory Hospital where she reportedly told a physician that she didn’t want to see her husband.

“When I went to intubate her I said, um, ‘You want me to intubate?’ or ‘I’m going to put this tube down your throat.’ And she said, ‘Yes, please,” Dr. Suzanne Hardy of Emory Hospital said. “So then I asked, ‘Do you want to see your husband?’ I don’t know why that just came to me. And she said, ‘No.’”

One of McIver’s lawyers, Don Samuel, said that Diane McIver declining to see her husband didn’t mean he shot her intentionally. The attorney said the victim said the shooting was an accident several times without being prompted.

Prosecutors argued that the motive for the murder was Diane McIver’s money. She was the president of U.S. Enterprises Inc. and reportedly had a secret will that she drafted up shortly before she was killed. Further, it’s alleged that Tex McIver owed his wife $350,000.

Check back with CrimeOnline as we continue to provide coverage during the sentencing phase.

[Feature Photo: Tex McIver: Police Handout]