Appeals Court Upholds 99-Year Sentence for Bernie Tiede
Chuck Lindell Published 12:01 a.m. CT Aug. 10, 2017 | Updated 3:51 a.m. CT Sept. 22, 2018
Read it at statesman.com online!
Bernie Tiede, left, stands in court during his new sentencing trial in April 2016 in Henderson, Texas MICHAEL CAVAZOS/Longview News Journal via AP Austin American-Statesman
A state appeals court has upheld the new 99-year prison sentence given to Bernie Tiede, whose conviction for the 1996 murder of Marjorie Nugent formed the basis of the movie “Bernie,” an offbeat comedy by Austin filmmaker Richard Linklater.
In 2014, Tiede was granted a new sentencing-phase trial after arguing that he had acted in “sudden passion” based on childhood sexual abuse, making him eligible for no more than 20 years in prison, instead of the life sentence handed down after his original trial.
Free on bond, Tiede spent almost two years living in Austin before his new trial in 2016, when jurors rejected his claims and imposed a new 99-year sentence.
Read the full story on mystatesman.com.
