Texas killer made famous by Jack Black movie goes free 
 
 Update: The Associated Press reports that Bernie Tiede was released on bond Tuesday after the district attorney who prosecuted him agreed to let him out of a life sentence. 
 
 Tiede was set free after a judge who recommended his prison term be reduced set a $10,000 bond. A state criminal appeals court must sign off on the sentence reduction while Tiede is out on bond. 
 
 Previous report: 
 
 The killer in an East Texas murder case made famous by a movie starring Jack Black is expected to be released from a life sentence Tuesday, the Associated Press reports. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Photo: AP Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close Image 1 of 10 A 1996 file photo provided by the Panola County Sheriff's Department of Marjorie Nugent and her former escort Bernie Tiede. A 1996 file photo provided by the Panola County Sheriff's Department of Marjorie Nugent and her former escort Bernie Tiede. Photo: AP Image 2 of 10 Bernie stars Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine. Bernie stars Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine. Image 3 of 10 Panola County Sheriff's Office deputy Robert Henderson, left, esorts Bernie Tiede, 40, from the San Augustine County Jail into the San Augustine County Courthouse, Thursday, Feb. 4, 1999 in San Augustine, Texas. (AP photo) less Panola County Sheriff's Office deputy Robert Henderson, left, esorts Bernie Tiede, 40, from the San Augustine County Jail into the San Augustine County Courthouse, Thursday, Feb. 4, 1999 in San Augustine, ... more Photo: KEVIN GREEN, AP Image 4 of 10 Jack Black stars as Bernie Tiede in 2011's Bernie. Jack Black stars as Bernie Tiede in 2011's Bernie. Photo: Van Redin Image 5 of 10 The Aug. 18, 1997, Panola County Sheriff's booking photo of Bernie Tiede. The Aug. 18, 1997, Panola County Sheriff's booking photo of Bernie Tiede. Photo: AP Image 6 of 10 Actor Matthew McConaughey and director Richard Linklater outside the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, March 14, 2012, during the promotion of their newest movie, Bernie. (Ashley Landis For the Chronicle) Actor Matthew McConaughey and director Richard Linklater outside the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, March 14, 2012, during the promotion of their newest movie, Bernie. (Ashley Landis For the Chronicle) Photo: Ashley Landis Image 7 of 10 Criminal District Attorney, Danny Buck Davidson, poses in a Panola County courtroom in Carthage, Texas, Tuesday, June 23, 1998. Criminal District Attorney, Danny Buck Davidson, poses in a Panola County courtroom in Carthage, Texas, Tuesday, June 23, 1998. Photo: RON HEFLIN, AP Image 8 of 10 In this film publicity image released by Millennium Entertainment, Shirley MacLaine portrays Marjorie Nugent, center, and Jack Black portrays Bernie Tiede, right. In this film publicity image released by Millennium Entertainment, Shirley MacLaine portrays Marjorie Nugent, center, and Jack Black portrays Bernie Tiede, right. Photo: Van Redin Image 9 of 10 Lloyd Tiller was one of the first persons to report Marjorie Nugent of Carthage, Texas, missing. Here, he poses in Shreveport, Louisiana, Tuesday, June 23, 1998. Lloyd Tiller was one of the first persons to report Marjorie Nugent of Carthage, Texas, missing. Here, he poses in Shreveport, Louisiana, Tuesday, June 23, 1998. Photo: RON HEFLIN, AP Image 10 of 10 Texas killer made famous by Jack Black movie goes free 1 / 10 Back to Gallery 
 
 Bernie Tiede, the Carthage man who fatally shot a wealthy widow in November 1996 and was later sentenced to life in prison for the crime could be freed on $10,000 bond, after the DA who prosecuted him agreed to free him. 
 
 New evidence about sexual abuse he suffered in childhood has come to light, leading to a probable reduction of the life sentence he received in 1999. 
 
 
 
 In 1996, Tiede shot Marjorie Nugent, 81, and sealed her body in a freezer in her home. Tiede, an assistant funeral director in Carthage, struck up a friendship with Nugent and the two became close companions, living, traveling, and shopping together. 
 
 After Nugent's killing, Tiede continued spending her money and was rather charitable in the community. Police discovered her body nine months later, hidden under frozen food. 
 
 
 
 According to the Texas Tribune, psychiatrists that examined Tiede learned he had been sexually abused from the age of 12 until he was 18. The suppression of this led him to be able to disassociate himself from reality, including a murder by his own hand. Living as a closeted gay man in a small East Texas town also created issues for Tiede. 
 
 The Panola Watchman noted in February that diaries collected by investigators in 1997 showed Tiede detailing the sexual abuse he suffered as a teen, but that they had not been introduced as evidence at trial. 
 
 According to Texas Monthly, Tiede told investigators after Nugent's body was found in 1997 that the widow had grown to be "mean and demanding" and that he kept her on ice in the hopes that he could one day give her a nice funeral. 
 
 The story of Tiede and Nugent's relationship was made into the 2011 movie Bernie, based on a Texas Monthly article and directed by Texas' own Richard Linklater. Starring Jack Black as Tiede and Shirley MacLaine as Nugent, it also marked the career resurgence of Matthew McConaughey, who played District Attorney Danny Buck Davidson. 
 
 
 
 State district Judge Diane DeVasto heard testimony Tuesday from the psychiatrists who have re-evaluated Tiede's case, Linklater himself, and others related to the case. 
 
 The Texas Tribune reported that District Attorney Davidson planned to file an affidavit with the court that he agrees revelations about Tiede's troubled youth are enough for his life sentence to be reduced. 
 
 
 
 According to the Texas Tribune, Tiede's release would come with two conditions, one being that he live with Linklater, who has offered to have Tiede stay with him Austin until he gets on his feet financially, and second, Tiede must also undergo counseling for the sexual abuse that he alleges he suffered as a child. According to the Texas Monthly, Tiede has received his paralegal certificate online while in prison, which will help him support himself once he is released from custody. 
 
 
 
 In 2012 just after the release of the film, Linklater was adamant that Tiede was no longer a threat to anyone. 
 
 
 
 "Bernie's been in 12 years now. He has to do time, but I think he (got) an extremely harsh sentence. Bernie's not a psychopath or sociopath. I think this was a heightened one-time event. He really is the nicest guy," he told the Houston Chronicle. 
 
 
 
 A spokesman for the Nugent family, Ryan Gravatt, told the Texas Tribune that they believe that Tiede should remain in prison and serve out his life sentence. 
 
 
 
 “He confessed to her murder and his confession was admitted in his trial,” Gravatt told reporters. “A jury found him guilty and sentenced him to life in prison, where he should remain.” ||||| CARTHAGE, Texas (AP) — A former mortician whose killing of a rich widow shook an East Texas town and later inspired a movie is a free man after a judge agreed to reduce his life sentence and release him on bond. 
 
 Bernie Tiede is led into the Panola County court house by law enforcement officials in Carthage, Texas, Tuesday, May 6, 2014. The former mortician serving a life sentence for the death of a rich East... (Associated Press) 
 
 Bernie Tiede smiles after a court hearing granting his release at the Panola County court house in Carthage, Texas, Tuesday, May 6, 2014. The former mortician whose killing of a rich widow shook an East... (Associated Press) 
 
 Panola County District Attorney Danny Buck Davidson gives a thumbs up before a court hearing for Bernie Tiede in Carthage, Texas, Tuesday, May 6, 2014. Tiede, a former mortician whose killing of a rich... (Associated Press) 
 
 Bernie Tiede is led into the Panola County court house by law enforcement officials in Carthage, Texas, Tuesday, May 6, 2014. The former mortician serving a life sentence for the death of a rich East... (Associated Press) 
 
 Bernie Tiede smiles as he talks to his attorney during a break in a court hearing granting his release at the Panola County court house in Carthage, Texas, Tuesday, May 6, 2014. The former mortician... (Associated Press) 
 
 Bernie Tiede walks into a court before a hearing granting his release at the Panola County court house in Carthage, Texas, Tuesday, May 6, 2014. The former mortician whose killing of a rich widow shook... (Associated Press) 
 
 Bernie Tiede is led into the Panola County court house by law enforcement officials in Carthage, Texas, Tuesday, May 6, 2014. The former mortician serving a life sentence for the death of a rich East... (Associated Press) 
 
 Bernie Tiede's freedom Tuesday was part of an agreement with the same district attorney who prosecuted him for the death of his 81-year-old longtime companion, Marjorie Nugent, who disappeared in 1996 and was found dead in a freezer in Carthage nine months later. 
 
 Tiede's bond was set at $10,000 and after posting bail, he was released to go live in Austin with filmmaker Richard Linklater, who co-wrote and directed the 2012 dark comedy "Bernie" that was inspired by the case and starred Jack Black in the title role and Shirley MacLaine as Nugent. Linklater volunteered to take in Tiede, who will be under strict bond conditions. 
 
 A state criminal appeals court still must formally sign off on the sentence reduction. 
 
 The now-55-year-old Tiede, who was well liked in the close-knit community of Carthage, was convicted in 1999 in the death of Nugent, who had a reputation among townspeople as a crotchety cheapskate. 
 
 Panola County District Attorney Danny Buck Davidson agreed with Tiede's appeals attorney, Jodi Cole, who said he deserved a lighter sentence because he was sexually assaulted as a child and also had an abusive relationship with Nugent before her death. 
 
 Psychiatrist Edward Gripon, who examined Tiede in January, testified Tuesday that Tiede and Nugent had a complex and abusive relationship. He said that combined with Tiede having been abused when he was younger pushed him to kill Nugent in a "brief dissociative episode." 
 
 "He doesn't come across in examination at all as a person prone to violence," he said. "That set of circumstances ... is not going to recreate itself." 
 
 Nugent's granddaughter, Dallas-area lawyer Shanna Nugent, said her family "is pretty much in shock" over the development. 
 
 "I really wanted justice for Nanny," she said, using a pet name for her grandmother. "This doesn't really feel like justice." 
 
 Davidson, who said he believes residents' opinion of Tiede has changed "180 degrees," called Tiede's release "bittersweet." He said he had a duty, however, to act once it was clear other factors had led Tiede to kill. 
 
 Tiede still faces a theft charge for spending Nugent's money after her death, but Davidson said nothing will move forward on that until the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals approves the sentence reduction in the slaying case. No timetable has been set for when the court might act. 
 
 Nugent's corpse was found at her Carthage home nine months after her 1996 disappearance, wrapped in a sheet inside a freezer among packages of frozen corn, pecans and meat. She had been shot in the back four times with a .22-caliber rifle. 
 
 Tiede had met Nugent in 1990 at the funeral of her husband R.L. "Rod" Nugent, who had made his fortune in oil and banking. The two would grow close, taking trips around the world, and Nugent signed a will leaving her estimated $10 million fortune to Tiede. 
 
 Tiede became known for his generosity around the town, which is about 150 miles east of Dallas. Townspeople have said he started scholarships, pledged money to a church building campaign and ran a fundraising drive for Boy Scouts. He also gave away large gifts, including several cars. 
 
 After Tiede was charged in Nugent's killing, pretrial publicity led to the case being moved to San Augustine, about 50 miles southeast of Carthage. A jury there convicted him in 1999 and sentenced him to life in prison. 
 
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 Associated Press writer Terry Wallace contributed to this report. 
 
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 Follow Nomaan Merchant on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/nomaanmerchant ||||| Of all the murders that have taken place in Texas, it is hard to imagine one stranger and more macabre than the November 1996 shooting of Mrs. Marjorie Nugent, a wealthy 81-year-old widow in Carthage, Texas, by Bernie Tiede, the 39-year-old former assistant director of a Carthage funeral home. A few years earlier, Bernie had quit his job at the funeral home to work as Mrs. Nugent’s business manager and traveling companion. She also had named him the sole heir to her estate, which was worth millions (her husband had been a prominent Carthage oilman and banker). Bernie was on his way to becoming a very rich man. But one afternoon, right around lunch time, he shot Mrs. Nugent four times in the back and then buried her in her own deep freeze in her garage, where she remained for nine months before anyone started looking for her. 
 
 When her body was finally discovered by police, Bernie quickly confessed to the crime, explaining to the county sheriff that Mrs. Nugent had become so “mean and demanding” that he felt he had no choice but to shoot her. But he added that the reason he kept her in the freezer was because everyone deserved a nice funeral and he hoped she would someday have one, too. 
 
 The story made statewide headlines, largely because many citizens in Carthage rallied around Bernie after his arrest, claiming he was a gentle, loving person and that Mrs. Nugent was the meanest woman in town. They begged District Attorney Danny Buck Davidson to give Bernie probation—or even go so far as drop all the charges against him—because they could not imagine he really meant to shoot Mrs. Nugent. Several people told Davidson that if they were picked to be jurors at Bernie’s trial, they would vote to acquit him. Davidson, in turn, successfully filed for a change of venue and had the trial held in San Augustine County. He portrayed Bernie as a monstrous, cold-blooded killer. The jury quickly found Bernie guilty and gave him a life sentence. His appeal was denied. 
 
 The Austin-based film director Richard Linklater used a Texas Monthly article I wrote about the case as the basis for the 2011 comic movie Bernie, starring Jack Black as Bernie, Shirley MacLaine
– Bernie Tiede, the Texas mortician-slash-murderer made famous when Jack Black portrayed him in Bernie, was released yesterday—to go live in the garage apartment of Richard Linklater, who co-wrote and directed the 2011 movie. Tiede, who in 1996 killed his longtime companion, wealthy 81-year-old widow Marjorie Nugent, was originally sentenced to life in prison. But his appeals attorney argued that his sentence should be reduced because he was sexually assaulted as a child and Nugent (played by Shirley MacLaine) was abusive toward him; her body was found 9 months after she vanished in a freezer in her garage. The DA who originally prosecuted Tiede agreed, the AP reports, and Tiede was freed on $10,000 bond. The state criminal appeals court still needs to formally sign off on the reduction. A psychiatrist who examined Tiede explained that he killed Nugent in a "brief dissociative episode," and that the murder was not planned. Tiede, now 55, "doesn't come across in examination at all as a person prone to violence," he testified yesterday. "That set of circumstances ... is not going to re-create itself." The sexual abuse Tiede suffered at the hands of an uncle between ages 12 and 18 had not been divulged during the trial—a lawyer who decided to investigate the case, with Linklater's blessing, after seeing the movie discovered Tiede had been abused, Texas Monthly explained in a January article. Linklater—who has always been adamant Tiede is no longer a threat, the Houston Chronicle notes—volunteered to take Tiede into his Austin home, and the judge ordered Tiede to get counseling for the abuse he endured.