Bond Set for Prominent Atlanta Attorney Who Allegedly Fatally Shot His Wife

— -- Prominent Atlanta attorney Claud "Tex" McIver spent his 74th birthday today in front of a Georgia judge, making his first court appearance after he was taken to jail following a months-long investigation for allegedly shooting and killing his wife. McIver has said it was an accident.

The shooting happened in September, while McIver and his wife, Diane McIver, were being driven home by a friend, investigators said. They ended up driving through a "bad part of town," he told investigators, according to the Fulton County medical examiner's investigative summary.

Diane McIver was sitting in the front passenger seat; she took a gun -- a revolver -- from the center console and passed it to her husband, who was sitting behind her, he told investigators.

The driver told investigators that she heard a "boom" and McIver's wife yelled out that she was bleeding from the chest; "it was presumed" that her husband shot her, investigators said. She died at a hospital that night.

McIver, who is also vice chairperson of Georgia's Board of Elections, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an exclusive phone interview in October that the shooting was an accident, saying he fell asleep in the car with the gun in a plastic bag in his lap.

McIver told the newspaper he "was suddenly awoken. I lurched and the gun fired. ... I must have forgotten it was in my lap."

McIver also told the paper that his wife "was my life partner. My life as I know it is ruined because of this accident."

McIver was booked at the Fulton County Jail on Wednesday night, the Fulton County Sheriff's Office said. He was charged with involuntary manslaughter, which is a felony, and reckless conduct, which is a misdemeanor.

McIver's bond was set today at $200,000. The court also ordered him to wear an ankle monitor until the case is over.

According to ABC affiliate WSB-TV in Atlanta, defense attorney Cal Leipold said today after court, "We believe this was an accident and a tragedy." Leipold said McIver is "distraught."

If convicted, he could face up to a decade in prison.

McIver is a partner at the prominent law firm Fisher & Phillips. According to his firm biography, he was "named one of Georgia Trend magazine's Legal Elite in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2015."

McIver was indicted for aggravated assault for a 1990 incident in which three teenagers accused him of firing shots into the air and into their car outside his home, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Prosecutors later dropped the case after the matter was settled privately.

ABC News' Hallie Eisenpress and Darrell Calhoun contributed to this report.