By Field Sutton
KYTX
June 25, 2014
The family of Marjorie Nugent–Bernie Tiede’s Victim–took another step Tuesday to fight the killer’s new-found freedom.
Tiede murdered Nugent in Carthage in 1996. Last month he was released from prison pending a permanent decision by a higher court.
That decision was based on evidence that Tiede had been sexually abused as a child, which some believe led to a psychological disconnect between his thoughts and actions at the time of the murder.
The Nugents’ new brief, filed with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, argues that medical testimony like that is meaningless in this case.
“Our understanding is that because that evidence was available to him without imperiling his fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination, that it wouldn’t be considered newly available now,” Nugent family attorney Chad Baruch said.
In the filing, Baruch writes that “any misinformation received by the jury was entirely Tiede’s fault.”
He goes on to cite court transcripts where Tiede describes Nugent, saying she was “more possessive…but i wouldn’t say exactly mean.”
Tiede’s testimony back then appears to go against everything his new defense team is arguing. All of it is based on tiede’s newly admitted history of sexual assault, said to have turned into a violent outburst when it mixed with Nugent’s allegedly abusive behavior.
Those arguments have already convinced one judge to let him out of prison.
“We would have liked to have been able to make these arguments to Judge DeVasto in the trial court,” Baruch said. “But the fact that he’s out on bond, no, that doesn’t have any legal bearing on the decision of the Court of Criminal appeals.”
The Nugents claim all of this sets a dangerous precedent, according to the filing: “a prescription for defendants to game the system by using their own concealment of facts to [dodge a life sentence].”
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