Bernie Tiede

In 2011 Jack Black and Shirley MacClaine starred in a movie called Bernie, directed by Richard Linklater. I admit that while I am a bit of a movie buff I have not seen this, nor do I plan to. It has been described as a “dark comedy” which just does not seem to be appropriate in any way when you are discussing the murder of someone. To be fair, I have to say that now days I tend to try to stay away from movies based on true stories, especially theatrical movies. In my opinion too many liberties are taken and facts are changed and yet because of that people become uninformed. I think the fact of the matter is that this movie had an influence, although thankfully, shortly, on the legal matters of this case.

Bernie Tiede worked as an assistant director at a funeral home in Cathage Texas and was there when Marjorie Nugent buried her husband in March of 1990. It was soon said that the two, became inseparable. This was not a sexual relationship but a companion relationship, in fact Bernie Tiede is gay. In 1991 Marjorie disinherited her son, Rod and left her entire $10m estate to Bernie. By 1993 he left the funeral home completely and went to “work” for her as a business manager and travel companion. It was not made clear in my research whether he lived in Marjorie's home but I can only assume that to be the case.

Over time Marjorie had not only become estranged from her son, but pretty much everyone. Her friends and family have claimed that it was a calculated move made by Tiede to isolate the elderly woman. Over the years Bernie, his defense attorney's and his supporters have argued that Marjorie was a controlling woman who often emotionally and verbally abused him. Now, to be fair I have never found a description of Marjorie as a woman who was extremely easy to get along with but few argue it was to the point in which Bernie described, or if she had become that way it was from his own doing.

It is not clear how long it had been since Rod Nugent had spoken to his mother but in 1997 he had made several attempts to reach her and had failed. At some point, apparently sometime around July of 1997 he reported his mother missing. Rod and his daughter would go to his mother's home (it seems with law enforcement) and they would discover a horror. Inside the home, in a deep freezer they would find the body of Marjorie Nugent wrapped in a white sheet.

Bernie Tiede was almost immediately taken in for questioning and he admitted to murdering Marjorie on November 19, 1996. He had shot her four times in the back of the head with a .22 rifle. It was believed that after the first shot the eighty-one year old fell to the ground but because she was not yet dead Bernie shot her three more times. After that time he continued to live life as normal. It was discovered Marjorie had given Bernie Power of Attorney over her and both before and after her murder he had been taking her money.

Bernie Tiede was taken to court and it was a pretty cut and dry case. He was convicted and sentenced to fifty years to life in prison. Rod sued him for wrongful death and also claimed that he had embezzled more than three million dollars from his mother's account. Apparently it was shown that this had happened and he had often given money and gifts to his friends. For the Nugent family they thought, at least this phase, things were over.

Then in 2011 the movie Bernie came out and a whole new interest evolved in the case. By 2014 Bernie was being represented by a new attorney who would argue that they had “discovered” that Bernie had been sexually molested as a child by an uncle and that Marjorie's behavior towards him had “driven him to murder” as it put him in “a disassociate state” because of the prior abuse. The prosecutor in the case, Danny Davidson, even argued that had he known this he would have asked for a lighter sentence. With this being said in May of 2014 a judge allowed Bernie to be released on a $10,000 bail while a new sentence would be issued at a later date.

Bernie Tiede went to live with director, Richard Linklater, in a garage apartment and remained there until early 2016 when a new sentencing trial commenced. Obviously the family of Marjorie Nugent was furious. For them this was just a new ploy to get out of the sentence he had been given in cold blood murder of their loved one. Marjorie's granddaughter, who was sixteen years old when Bernie Tiede had entered her grandmother's life was now herself a practicing attorney. Bernie's new defense would claim that the family had unprecedented influence on the case. Original prosecutor, Danny Davidson would eventually recluse himself for the second sentencing trial. Initially, with Davidson at the helm defense attorney's believed this was all but a “shoo-in” to get a much lower sentence. When Davidson stepped out of the case their jobs became much harder.

In April of 2016 Bernie's new sentencing trial began with a new jury. After three weeks of testimony the jury took four hours to deliberate before sentencing Bernie to 99 years to life, double what he had faced before. In August of 2017 the sentence was upheld. According to the Department of Corrections Bernie is eligible for parole in the year 2029 but his projected release is not expected until the year 2098.

If this case proves nothing, it proves sometimes you are better off leaving well enough alone.