McIver posts bond, leaves Fulton jail

Atlanta attorney, 74, charged in shooting death of his wife.

Atlanta attorney Claud “Tex” McIver on Monday night walked out of the Fulton County Jail, with not a word to the waiting press and a clear plastic bag full of books and papers slung over his shoulder.

McIver, 74, charged with murder in the shooting death of his wife, Diane, posted bond earlier in the day Monday. He was released shortly before 9 p.m. Don Samuel, a member of his defense team, told the assembled media that McIver would have no comment.

A Fulton judge revoked McIver’s initial bond eight months ago. After a hearing in October, the judge set a new bond of $750,000, but it took McIver two months to raise the $75,000 — 10 percent of the full bond — required to secure

his release.

The court ordered that McIver be fitted with an ankle monitor before leaving the jail, and his release was briefly delayed while he waited for a person with the

monitor to arrive at the jail.

Earlier in the day, attorney Bruce Harvey, another member of his defense team, said he was

pleased McIver could finally get out of jail.

“Freedom is the norm in our society for those who are presumptively innocent and accused of crimes,” Harvey said. “We’re glad Tex can get back to a semblance of normal life for the holidays while we get ready for trial.”

McIver, a politically connected labor lawyer, shot his wife on the night of Sept. 25, 2016, as they drove along Piedmont Avenue. McIver was sitting behind Diane in the back passenger seat and a family friend was driving. McIver fired one shot through Diane’s back, and she died later that night at Emory University Hospital.

McIver insists the shooting was accidental. He said he had dozed off and pulled the trigger after being jolted awake. Fulton prosecutors say McIver knew exactly what he was doing and contend there is a financial motive behind the shooting.

After he was arrested late last year, McIver was released on bond. But Judge Robert McBurney ordered McIver to be taken back into custody in April after investigators found a handgun in a sock drawer of McIver’s luxury Buckhead condo. The presence of the weapon was a violation of his first bond. In approving McIver’s second bond, McBurney specified “no firearms, loaded or unloaded, in his residence. This includes all sock drawers.”

While out on bond once again, McIver must live in the Buckhead condo, with strict restrictions as to when he can come and go.

CASEY SYKES, CASEY.SYKES@AJC.COM Tex McIver, 74, leaves the Fulton County Jail on Monday after posting bond. Mciver’s release was delayed while he awaited the arrival of an ankle monitor, which he will wear.