Dani Jo Carter: Tex McIver ‘needs to be in hell’

4/23/18 - Atlanta -Dani Jo Carter listens to the verdict.  The jury found Tex McIver guilty on four of five charges on their fifth day of deliberations today at the Tex McIver murder trial at the Fulton County Courthouse.   Bob Andres bandres@ajc.com

Credit: Bob Andres

Credit: Bob Andres

4/23/18 - Atlanta -Dani Jo Carter listens to the verdict. The jury found Tex McIver guilty on four of five charges on their fifth day of deliberations today at the Tex McIver murder trial at the Fulton County Courthouse. Bob Andres bandres@ajc.com

The woman who witnessed Claude “Tex” McIver shoot and kill his wife said the convicted killer deserves to be in prison.

“I think he needs to be in hell,” Dani Jo Carter told Channel 2 Action News.

Carter was driving the McIvers’ SUV in September 2016 when Tex McIver, seated behind the passenger seat, shot his wife, Diane McIver. She later died at Emory University Hospital.

RELATED: Complete coverage of the Tex McIver murder trial

Carter and Diane McIver had known each other 40 years and were best friends.

“I could not imagine it being anything other than a horrible accident initially,” Carter told Channel 2.

But as the star witness in Tex McIver’s murder trial, Carter said her feelings later changed toward him.

Claud Tex McIver and his wife, Diane, are shown in undated family photos. FAMILY PHOTO

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“I didn’t care if they found him innocent or guilty,” she said. “I knew that God would—he’d have to deal with whatever he had done. But I could not say that he had intentionally done it.”

By the end of the sensational trial, which lasted more than a month and drew worldwide interest, Carter said she believed he had done it intentionally.

On April 23, Tex McIver was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. He is currently an inmate at Long State Prison in Ludowici, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.

Both Carter and McIver have been named co-defendants in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the estate of Diane McIver.