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Prominent Atlanta attorney Claud "Tex" McIver, 79, who was convicted in April of 2018 for the felony murder and aggravated assault of his wife, 64-year-old Diane McIver, in 2016, is working to get his conviction overturned, WXIA-TV reported.
Lawyers for McIver said he did not have a fair trial in 2018 and are asking the Georgia Supreme Court to overturn the conviction, arguing that he loved his wife dearly and her death was a terrible accident. Prosecutors said he coveted her money and was driven to kill her.
During the night of the shooting in September, a close friend of Diane McIver, Dani Jo Carter, accompanied the couple to their horse farm about 75 miles from Atlanta. Carter was driving McIver's Ford Expedition as they returned. Diane was sitting in the passenger seat with Tex in the back seat.
As the car pulled onto the interstate and in the middle of a Black Lives Matter protest, McIver asked Diane to hand him a gun from the center console. A few minutes later, the gun went off, and Diane was shot in the back. McIver, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, did not call 911 and Carter proceeded to drive to a hospital in Atlanta. Diane was pronounced dead at the scene.
Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote an 18-page order, in which he states that, according to testimony, McIver had asked to be given the handgun because they had driven upon a Black Lives Matter protest. Also, according to the order, McIver called a doctor's Black colleague "boy" upon being informed his wife died.
During the trial, during which McIver did not testify, it was revealed that he told police he had fallen asleep with the gun in his hand and the gun went off when he was "jolted awake."
McIver's lawyers argued that, in the first trial, McBurney should not have allowed prosecutors to introduce speculative but baseless theories for a motive, according to the Associated Press. They also said this allowed suggestions of racial bias, and the evidence served only to prejudice the jury against McIver.
The defense lawyers' arguments stated that the racial issues "were so inflamed" that the jury did not give McIver a fair trial, a notion that McBurney rejected.
McIver is expected to appear before the court on Wednesday to present oral arguments.
The McIvers were wealthy and well-connected, with McIver a prominent partner at a labor and employment law firm and Diane McIver the president of U.S. Enterprises Inc., a parent company of Corey Airport Services. She worked there for 43 years.
