He said a lot in the 13-minute speech at his sentencing hearing, but it’s what Claud "Tex" McIver didn’t say that rang the loudest for the judge.
Tex McIver thanked supporters across several continents.
“The outpouring of support has been beyond anything that we have expected.”
He talked about mail he received from “three people on three different continents,” specifically reading a portion of a note from a woman in Ireland.
He talked about correspondence he’d received from a “race horse jockey” in Perth, Australia.
He made time to express his fondness for Chick-fil-A.
“One of my huge, huge favorites and one of the things I miss the most I guess."
He thanked family “both blood and extended.”
He talked about grandchildren’s drawings depicting him as the hero in their story.
He invited folks to see his godchild play in all-star baseball game.
He gave a shout-out to the Golden State Warriors for the same godchild.
He thanked family members, including his sister, who he said had attended every day of his trial.
He talked about Diane McIver, his wife who died after being shot in the back with a handgun while in the passenger’s seat of an SUV on Sept. 25, 2016. (LINK: Full Tex McIver Trial coverage)
“I found it very painful to hear her described in the trial in ways that I simply did not who that person was.”
“That wasn’t my Diane.”
He described their relationship as “amazing.”
“What many people could not possibly known, because it’s never been revealed and I’m going to give up the secret today. We felt so strongly about each other, we were together so much that we actually had a secret among us.
And that was that we would be different places and we would look at each other and we would say sometimes even in unison is this truly real? Is this real?
And if it was one of those, if it’s not real don’t pinch because this is the greatest dream that I’ve ever had and I don’t want to wake up.”
He described a “telepathic” connection with his wife.
“I could be on the other side of the room at an event, or I could be busy at our cow pasture, and my conscience would hear these words: Is this truly real?
“I would spin around, look to where she was, see her gaze and know that she had telepathically communicated those words to me.”
As members of his defense team loudly coughed, McIver talked of “adjustments” or “corrections” that his wife “had delivered with love” on him.
“I always accepted them with love.”
McIver said he had no memory of ever “crossing a word” or being critical of his wife.
He talked of spending 263 nights in a jail cell “by himself but not alone.”
“She has joined me there as a presence, it’s hard to describe, but she’s left her earth suit.”
McIver said that while he’d tried to say goodbye to her, she’d never said goodbye to him.
“It’s as if she’s on the other side of curtain, or another dimension.”
McIver directly addressed his wife, saying she’d brought him joy and fulfillment.
“Thank you, and until we are together again…”
But there's one thing that Fulton County Superior Court Judge Judge Robert McBurney was quick to note he didn't say.
“I’ll tell you what’s most telling,” McBurney said. “You had as much as much as you wanted to share with me what you thought was important for me to hear, and I guess your audience to hear. We heard about race horses in Australia, and telepathy, a brief psychoanalysis of the male ego and ghosts.
I didn’t ever hear you say you’re sorry for what you did.
To me, that silence speaks volumes.”
And then McBurney sentenced McIver to life in prison, with the possibility of parole.
BACKGROUND:
Claud “Tex’ McIver was convicted of intentionally killing his wife Diane on Sept. 25, 2016. Diane died after being shot in the back with a handgun while in the passenger's seat of an SUV. Tex was riding behind her and had a loaded revolver in his lap.
Prosecutors argued McIver had a financial motive for shooting and killing his wife, a wealthy business magnate. However, defense attorneys for McIver contradicted these allegations saying that the shooting was nothing more than a tragic accident.
PHOTOS | Tex McIver Murder Trial Evidence
McIver faced four charges connected to her death including:
- Count 1: Malice murder
- Count 2: Felony murder
- Count 3: Aggravated assault
- Count 4: Possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony
The jury found him guilty on all counts except count one.
