SurfieTX
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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 Linklaters 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 Tiedes 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 Tiedes 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 Tiedes 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.
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/bernie-tiede-freed-will-live-with-austin-filmmaker/nfqdh/