Motion Filed to Dismiss Theft Charge against Bernie Tiede
Posted/updated on: January 30, 2015 at 1:32 pm
CARTHAGE — The attorney for convicted killer Bernie Tiede argues in a motion filed in Carthage that a pending theft charge against him should be dismissed because the former assistant morticians homosexuality played against him some 15 years ago. Times have changed greatly since Mr. Tiede was charged with this theft, attorney Jodi Cole argues in her motion filed in the 123rd District Court, according to KETK and the Longview News-Journal. Among other things, Cole’s motion cites evidence she says reveals a deal offered Tiede to plead guilty to murder in exchange for a 20-year sentence to avoid the release of details regarding his homosexual relationships in Carthage.
Tiede, 56, was freed in May from a life sentence a jury gave him in 1999 for the 1997 shooting death of 81-year-old Marjorie Nugent, his companion and benefactress. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld that decision, by Visiting Judge Diane DeVasto, in November. Meanwhile on Wednesday, the Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin responded to the Nugent familys December request to re-hear the case by saying it would take no action on that suggestion. DeVasto on Jan. 2 set a June 1 trial date to decide a new sentence for Tiede. She also told Cole and Panola County District Attorney Danny Buck Davidson to be ready to argue any pre-trial motions, including disposition of the pending theft case, on March 3.
Davidson, along with other parties in the criminal case, is under a gag order and cannot answer questions about this case. Marjorie Nugent’s granddaughter Shanna Nugent is not under such an order. She says, I want what is actual justice, she said. I want a jury of 12 people set in a courtroom, after hearing the arguments of both sides, to make a decision. Jodi Cole doesnt want that. Jodi Cole is terrified of that.
