Claud “Tex” McIver, already charged with the murder of his wife, was accused Thursday of attempted bribery and obstruction.
A court filing by Fulton County prosecutors alleges that McIver committed those offenses from January through April of this year. The filing did not provide any details of the offenses, nor did it explain why they were allegedly committed more than a month into the future.
The motion did say that the prosecution’s witness is Jeff Dickerson, a public relations consultant who once acted as a spokesman for McIver.
“I am not at liberty to comment,” Dickerson, a former editorial writer for The Atlanta Journal, said Thursday. “I have shared my version of events with both the prosecution and the defense.”
Don Samuel, one of McIver’s lawyers, declined to comment.
The McIver case is the subject of the AJC's "Breakdown" podcast. A "trailer" episode went up this week; you can stream it here:
The filing on Thursday asks Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney to admit evidence of these alleged offenses into McIver’s upcoming murder trial, which is scheduled to begin March 5.
McIver, 75, once a politically connected attorney, is charged with intentionally shooting his wife Diane, 64, in the back as they drove up Piedmont Avenue on Sept. 25, 2016. Diane, a prominent business executive, died a few hours later on an operating table at Emory University Hospital.
Tex McIver, who was sitting in the rear passenger seat, claims the shooting was a tragic accident. He said he had fallen asleep with a loaded handgun in his lap, and when the car stopped, he awoke, lurched and accidentally pulled the trigger. Fulton prosecutors say McIver meant to kill his wife and have said he had a financial motive to do so.
Prosecutors want to present these new allegations as “similar transaction” evidence. They would would buttress other evidence of motive, intent, knowledge and an “absence of mistake or accident,” the motion said.
McBurney is likely to hear arguments on the issue at a pretrial conference scheduled for Wednesday.
In addition to the murder count, McIver faces three charges of influencing witnesses in the days after the fatal shooting. Two of these charges involve what McIver allegedly told or relayed to Dani Jo Carter, who was driving the Ford Expedition when McIver shot his wife. Another involves Bill Crane, who also was McIver’s spokesman after the shooting.
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