ATLANTA — The retrial for a former attorney accused of shooting and killing his wife will not move forward after prosecutors and the defense reached a plea deal.
Channel 2 Investigation Reporter Mark Winne was inside the courtroom Friday as Judge Robert McBurney announced that a negotiated plea had been reached.
McIver agreed to a felony murder charge being reduced to involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault charge reduced to reckless conduct. He also pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
“I want to be very clear: Diane’s the best friend that I ever had. And I’ve had a lot of good friends for a long time... but she won my heart quickly. She again was the best partner I could have possibly imagined. And I will always love her in that regard. She died as a result of my actions, plain and simple,” McIver said before the judge.
McBurney said that the decision will allow McIver’s loved ones to move forward with their lives.
“I think that this resolution that the lawyers on both sides of the case have reached is one that will allow the greatest number of people to move forward as best they can,” McBurney said.
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McIver, his wife Diane McIver, and their friend Dani Jo Carter were heading home from a party when Tex McIver shot Diane McIver in the back as he sat behind her in the car.
Diane McIver died at the hospital. A 2018 jury found McIver guilty of felony murder.
In 2022, the Georgia Supreme Court overturned his felony murder conviction, ruling the jurors didn’t receive proper instructions.
The state set a retrial date back in December, but jury selection lasted only for one day before McIver’s attorneys filed a motion barring the prosecution from introducing evidence that McIver had an intent to kill his wife.
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In the new plea agreement, McIver will get a total sentence of fifteen years to serve, eight in custody with seven years on probation. The first five years of probation will be served under home confinement with an ankle monitor.
McIver will get credit for time served. Defense Attorney Amanda Clark Palmer indicated that was approximately six years and some months.
“Every day he’s already served will be applied,” Palmer said.
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