Prominent attorney accused of killing wife sent back to jail

ATLANTA — A prominent Atlanta attorney accused of killing his wife returned to jail Wednesday.

Tex McIver's attorneys suggested at least three different people that could have planted a gun found in McIver's Buckhead condo, but in the end, the judge said the gun belonged to McIver and he sent him to jail because it violated the conditions of his bond.

McIver didn't show much emotion as a Fulton County deputy sheriff put him in handcuffs and led him out of the courtroom.

He only had time for some brief words with his attorney Steve Maples.

Minutes earlier, assistant district attorney Clint Rucker argued that the gun belonged to McIver and asked the judge to revoke his bond.

“Why would he have a gun? And I’m going to tell you, judge, what you can infer from some of the evidence,” Rucker said. “It's because he was infatuated with guns.”

McIver is accused of felony involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of his wife, Diane, something he maintains was a terrible accident.

McIver was out on bond and investigators said they discovered a Glock 9 millimeter in his sock drawer while serving a search warrant.

McIver's attorneys suggested others may have planted that gun to frame him. Defense attorney William Hill suggested the DA's office wanted McIver in jail to get him to plead guilty.

“You have in front of you a defendant who is charged with an unintentional crime that has had horrendous emotional personal impact on him, and the DA is trying to leverage him into a plea,”  Hill said.

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But, judge Robert McBurney didn't buy any of those arguments.

To him, it was simple. The gun belonged to McIver and that violated his bond, so McIver belonged in jail for now.

“I am going to revoke McIver’s bond but I am amenable to reinstating it. So what that means is Mciver is going to go into custody today,” McBurney said.

The judge will let McIver out of jail once everyone draws up the new restrictive bond conditions that will include no weapons, house arrest and an ankle monitor.

Cox Media Group