In exclusive footage shared with the Austin American-Statesman by director Richard Linklater, convicted murderer Bernie Tiede made a plea for air conditioning in a Texas prison. The state is one of at least 13 that do not have universal air conditioning for state operated prisons.
Tiede, a former Texas funeral director who shot and kill Marjorie Nugent, a wealthy widow and jammed her body into a meat freezer, is serving a 99-year sentence in her murder. Family members of Nugent, including her granddaughter, have described Tiede as a “con man” and “murderer.”
Linklater directed the 2011 movie "Bernie" chronicling Tiede's story and has continued to have conversations with Tiede. Talk between the two regarding Tiede’s overall health – he has hypertension, diabetes and other chronic conditions – became a basis for the lawsuit Tiede’s attorneys filed Aug. 24 in U.S. District Court against the state contending that Tiede faces immediate heat-related danger, declaring the conditions are “sadistic” and urging that he should be immediately moved to an air-conditioned area.
