Ruling: McIver can ditch ankle monitor

Judge says attorney can have contact with employees at ranch.

Atlanta attorney Claud “Tex” McIver can ditch the ankle monitor he has been required to wear since he was charged with killing his wife, a Fulton County judge ruled Monday.

McIver, 74, can also have contact with employees at his Putnam County ranch and mutual friends he shared with his late wife after Judge Jaslovelin Lall agreed to modify the conditions of his bond.

McIver shot his wife, Diane, in the back with a .38-caliber revolver as the two rode in their SUV near Piedmont Park on the night of Sept. 25. Diane’s friend, Dani Jo Carter, who was driving the SUV, then rushed the three to Emory University Hospital, where Diane McIver died hours later.

In December, Tex McIver was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter, a felony, and reckless conduct. He is currently free on $200,000 bond.

As a condition of his bond, McIver was fitted with an ankle monitor and ordered to surrender his passport before leaving the Fulton County jail, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.

During his first court appearance, prosecutors argued McIver should not be allowed contact with employees of his ranch nor with colleagues and friends he shared with his wife, and the judge approved the stipulation.

In court Monday, McIver’s attorney Stephen Maples asked for the bond conditions to be modified.

The ankle monitor prohibited McIver from traveling for business or to visit his elderly mother in Texas, Maples argued, because he would not be able to clear airport security.

“He gets turned away,” Maples said.

“He is not able to go through the airport.”

Prosecutors contend that with McIver’s intelligence and money, he could be a risk to flee, possibly from Texas into Mexico.

Additionally, Atlanta police detective Darrin Smith testified that after Diane McIver’s death, her husband did not speak with police until two days later.

Maples, however, said that in the hours after Diane McIver’s death, Tex McIver was treated at Emory for a possible panic attack. McIver has said he was asleep prior to shooting his wife.

At Emory, doctors determined Diane McIver had extensive internal bleeding, and she died after surgery, Maples said.

Tex McIver attended Monday’s hearing but did not speak. He was wearing his wedding ring.