GUILTY TX - Marjorie Nugent, 81, slain, found in freezer, Carthage, 19 Nov 1996

It sounds like something from a terrible TV sitcom: Convicted murderer moves in with filmmaker. But here we are.

Bernie Tiede, the former East Texas mortician whose 1996 killing of a rich widow inspired Austin filmmaker Richard Linklater’s 2012 dark comedy, “Bernie,” is free on bond, after the district attorney who prosecuted him agreed Tuesday to let him out of a life sentence.

Linklater testified Tuesday on Tiede’s behalf in a court hearing in Carthage and offered to house Tiede in an Austin garage apartment he would provide.
Visiting Panola County Judge Diane DeVasto agreed to let Tiede live with Linklater, recommended a reduction in Tiede’s sentence and set bond at $10,000 Tuesday. Jail records show Tiede was released on bond Tuesday afternoon.

Tiede, 55, was convicted in 1999 in the shooting death of 81-year-old Marjorie Nugent in Carthage, near the Louisiana state line.

Panola County District Attorney Danny Buck Davidson, who originally prosecuted Tiede, agreed with Tiede’s appeals attorney, Jodi Cole, that Tiede deserved a lighter sentence because he was sexually assaulted as a child and also had an abusive relationship with Nugent.

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The real-life murderer who was the subject of Richard Linklater's underrated dark comedy "Bernie," which featured Jack Black in a Golden Globe-nominated, arguably career-best performance, was released from jail on Tuesday — on the provision that he moves in with the director.

As the film depicted, Bernie Tiede, a former funeral director, confessed to shooting his elderly benefactor, 81-year-old Majorie Nugent (shrewdly portrayed by Shirley Maclaine in the 2011 film). After killing her in 1996, he stored Nugent's body in a deep freezer in her Carthage, Texas, home for several months. He was convicted of the homicide in 1999 and has been serving a life sentence ever since.

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ScarlettScarpetta said:

This just seems wrong to me. He murdered someone and I don't care about him being an abused child. If he got life he should serve life.

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LietKynes said:

RSBM

Agreed. If he (Bernie) was in an abusive relationship, why didn't he walk away from it ?
---Probably $$.
Abuse from childhood is no excuse, or there would be many people out murdering others, and getting away with it !!! Ridiculous.

Possibly the movie didn't help Tiede stay put behind bars ... the film did not paint (imo) the true picture of Tiede. I mean, he put her body in a freezer and covered it with frozen food, for gosh sakes. Nauseating.
:moo:

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Jurors who will decide whether Bernie Tiede goes back to prison for the 1996 shooting of his elderly companion heard a final day of emotionally charged testimony Thursday in the infamous East Texas murder case.

The day capped off nearly three weeks in court marked by contentious legal wrangling, baffling testimony about financial affairs and fiery outbursts from lawyers and witnesses, including the victim’s son calling Thursday for Tiede to face the death penalty. The jury, whose patience has worn visibly thin with the extensive proceedings, is expected to begin deliberations Friday after Tiede’s lawyers and state prosecutors deliver closing arguments in the bizarre two-decade-long murder saga.

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