ATLANTA -- A Fulton County magistrate has issued arrest warrants for prominent Atlanta attorney Claude "Tex" McIver, who shot his wife inside an SUV near Piedmont Park in late September. McIver faces charges of misdemeanor reckless conduct and felony involuntary manslaughter in connection with the shooting death of his wife, Diane McIver.
Diane McIver died after being shot while riding in a Ford Expedition near Piedmont Park on Sept. 25. Her husband, Claude “Tex” McIver, has called the shooting a tragic accident. He said he was dozing in the back seat when his revolver fired.
The couple and a family friend, Dani Jo Carter, were on their way back to the McIvers' Buckhead home from Reynolds Plantation, when the shooting occurred.
Diane McIver was president of Corey Airport Services, a company that provides advertising in airports across the United States. Tex McIver is an attorney with the firm Fisher and Phillips, and is on the advisory committee of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Gun Violence.
Authorities said McIver is expected to turn himself in to the Fulton County jail within the next 24 hours.
Ten days after the shooting, Tex McIver, at the request of Maples, took a polygraph test conducted by a private contractor. During that examination, McIver insisted the shooting was nothing more than a horrible accident.
The warrants are "not totally tremendously at odds with what we’re saying was just simply a horrible accident," said McIver's attorney, Steven Maples. "And that’s what I think the facts will show in this case, is that it was simply a horrible accident."
Maples says he thinks public pressure and "politics" drove authorities to seek the warrants. He said that he has ballistics experts who would testify that the shooting was accidental. The attorney said he's hopeful that a grand jury will hear the case before it goes to trial.
Two weeks ago, more than 2,000 items from Diane McIver's estate were placed on an estate sale with Peachtree Battle Estate Sales and Liquidations.
(Photos courtesy Peachtree Battle Estate Sales. More pictures at EstateSales.net)
