FULTON COUNTY, Ga. (Court TV) — A month and a half after the murder retrial of prominent Atlanta attorney Tex McIver was paused by a judge’s ruling, he has pleaded guilty to lesser charges.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney sentenced McIver to eight years in prison and seven years of probation after he pleaded guilty to lesser-included charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct in the Sept. 2016 shooting death of his wife, Diane McIver.
McIver had been ready to start his murder retrial in December, when a judge’s last-minute ruling ground the case to a halt, saying that the jury would not be able to hear the State’s argument that McIver intended to kill his wife when the gun went off.
Claud “Tex” McIver (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office)
Back in 2018, Claud “Tex” McIver was convicted on charges related to the 2016 shooting death of his wife, Diane McIver. Those charges included felony murder, aggravated assault, influencing a witness, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
The murder and weapons charges, however, were overturned by the Georgia Supreme Court in 2022. McIver did, in fact, shoot his wife. It’s his intent that’s in dispute.
READ MORE: Judge’s ruling puts Claud ‘Tex’ McIver’s murder case on hold
Diane, 64, was sitting in the passenger seat of her SUV when she was shot in the back on Sept. 25, 2026. The McIvers’ friend, Dani Jo Carter, was driving. McIver was sitting behind Diane. The three were on their way back to Atlanta after a trip to the McIvers’ Georgia horse farm. According to court documents, when the friend took a different exit to avoid a traffic jam, McIver said, “This is a really bad area.”
At that first trial, Seleta Griffin — who served as the Chief Sr. Assistant District Attorney of Gwinnett County at the time — explained to the jury how McIver asked for his gun, and Diane handed him a revolver that was inside a plastic grocery store bag within the SUV’s console. Moments later, McIver fired that gun, hitting Diane in the back.
McIver was charged with involuntary manslaughter two months after the shooting and was later charged with malice murder. The murder conviction was overturned when McIver’s defense team successfully argued that the jury was improperly instructed when it came to considering the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter during deliberations.
McIver, now 81, had said the shooting was accidental, but prosecutors said his motive was money. The McIvers were each successful in their own right and had always kept their finances separate. McIver, however, had reportedly been living far beyond his means, particularly in light of the fact that he had recently ended his law partnership.
McIver had already been in jail. He had asked to be released pending trial, citing the need for medical care and wanting to properly prepare for trial. The judge denied that request, saying he wasn’t a good candidate for bond due to his felony conviction for trying to influence a witness at his first trial. In his decision, the judge also wrote: “The temptation to abandon this replay of the drama of his wife’s shooting death is simply too great.”
