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Atlanta attorney who says he accidentally shot wife owed her $350,000

ATLANTA — A well-known Atlanta attorney charged in the shooting death of his business executive wife owed her $350,000 at the time of her death, reports CBS affiliate WGCL.

Claud “Tex” McIver bonded out of jail on Dec. 23, two days after he was charged with felony involuntary manslaughter and misdemeanor reckless conduct in the Sept. 25 shooting of Diane McIver. 

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Diane McIver CBS affiliate WGCL

Court documents show a business owned by Diane McIver loaned the suspect money in December 2011. He was supposed to pay her back with interest by December 2014.

That never happened. Documents show he was given an extension to December 2017. 

Claud McIver’s attorney, Steve Maples, said the defendant maintains his innocence in the case. Maples confirmed the loan was made, but didn’t comment further. The couple kept their money in separate accounts, reports WGCL. 

McIver told local news media he was riding in a rear seat of an SUV on Sept. 25 when a gun he was holding discharged and the bullet hit his 64-year-old wife, who was sitting in the front passenger seat. 

She later died at a hospital.  Several days after the shooting, a friend of the family, Bill Crane, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the gun used in Diane McIver’s death had been retrieved from the SUV’s center console because the couple feared nearby Black Lives Matter protests. A few days later, Maples refuted that claim, telling the newspaper that there had been no concern about unrest. Instead, he said, the McIvers pulled out the gun as a precaution after seeing people in the street in an area where homeless people hang out.

Tex McIver is expected back in court on January 5.

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