Prominent Atlanta attorney, Claud ‘Tex’ McIver, is on trial for the murder of his wife Diane McIver in Sept. 25, 2016. He claims it was an accident. Opening statements are expected to begin Tuesday morning at approximately 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Watch live on the Law&Crime Network in the player above.
McIver has said that he was holding a gun while seated in the backseat of a car for protection as he rode with his wife and a friend through what he felt was a dangerous neighborhood. At some point, he claims, he fell asleep, and then awoke with a start and accidentally fired the weapon, shooting Diane through her seat in the process. Diane was taken to a local hospital. Tex’s defense claims that before she died, Diane said the shooting “was an accident.”
Prosecutors claim that Tex McIver had a financial motive for killing his wife, who was a business executive. They also recently hit him with additional charges of influencing witnesses, to go along with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
The trial is finally beginning after a lengthy jury selection process. The case had drawn plenty of local attention, making matters difficult. On top of that, potential jurors were even exposed to a radio news report of the trial while they were on a jury bus en route to the courthouse. Fortunately, attorneys were able to successfully select and seat a jury for the trial.
Stay with Law&Crime.com and the Law&Crime Network for continuing coverage of the trial.
Aaron Keller contributed to this report.
[Image via WSB screengrab]
