Judge refuses to halt sale of wife’s valuables,

The valuable jewelry and furs belonging to the late Diane McIver may proceed to the auction block, a Fulton County judge ruled Friday afternoon.

The district attorney’s office had filed an emergency motion Thursday to stop attorney Claud “Tex” McIver from selling his wife’s belongings, since he has been charged with killing her. Georgia law prohibits someone convicted of homicide from collecting money from an estate or insurance policy. (McIver has not been convicted in his wife’s death, nor has he been indicted by a grand jury.)

Superior Court Judge Constance Russell said the motion to halt the sale of Diane McIver’s goods wasn’t for her to decide. Instead, she said, it’s an issue for probate court, which handles Diane McIver’s will.

Tex McIver, 74, is charged with involuntary manslaughter, a felony, and reckless conduct, a misdemeanor, for shooting his wife in the back with a .38-caliber revolver as the two rode in their SUV near Piedmont Park late on the night of Sept. 25. Diane’s friend, Dani Jo Carter, who was driving the SUV, then drove the three to Emory University Hospital, where Diane McIver died hours later. One day after an arrest warrant was issued in December, McIver surrendered and was booked into the Fulton County jail. He was released two days later, on Dec. 23, after posting $200,000 bond and being fitted with an ankle monitor. McIver’s attorney, William Hill, asked the court to modify other conditions of his bond so he could travel within the U.S. for work or to visit his elderly mother without an ankle monitor. Judge Russell declined. Hill said McIver had no intention of using the profits from the sale of his wife’s items for his personal use. “Mr. McIver has always offered to have proceeds go into a trust.”