Bernie Page #8

I Iike Bernie Tiede as much as you do.

He did shoot her though!

I tell you what.

I don`t claim to know what Bernie did

or did not do.

I figure that`s between

him and God AImighty.

Mm-hm. And the way I figure it,

that`s where it should stay.

Man, I hope I`m on that jury.

Yes, we need to be able to forgive

someone who`s done something wrong.

And no matter what the truth is,

Bernie is going to need our prayers.

so, folks, we need to understand

that tragedies are

simply tests of our faith.

And right now, Bernie needs to know,

especially during this

testing of his faith,

that God and this congregation

have not abandoned him.

Good to see

you, thanks for coming.

Good to see you.

God bless you for everything.

Reverend. Now Iisten,

I understand you going all

New Testament on him but uh..

you got to at Ieast take

him off the prayer Iist.

Hey, I gotta stay neutral,

everybody needs a preacher.

Neutral?

Reverend, basically you were

supporting a criminal act.

You know, all I hear is poor Bernie.

Nobody`s talking about poor Marjorie.

Hell, everyone seems to be forgetting

that there`s a Iady, a

member of this congregation,

shot in the back four times

and put in the freezer.

Danny, the Bernie you`re talking about

is not the Bernie this church knows.

The heck it isn`t.

It sounds Iike the only Bernie

you`re choosing to remember

is the one that donated 1 00,000

dollars to your church. Reverend.

Danny, Iook, I`m sorry you feel that..

It`s been hard on everyone.

AIright, kiddos.

AII the good that Bernie

had done for everybody,

or for us around here, it just..

they come in, and then

it was gonna get all

Mrs. Nugent`s money back

that Bernie had spent.

We Iost our airport,

we lost our best store,

cars, some people lost their houses,

jet skis.

He spent 600, 000 dollars

of Mrs. Nugent`s money.

No paperwork, anything?

A receipt?

I don`t know, I mean..

he just gave it to me,

said I could have it.

Well, you know, at

least they could`ve left

some money for the church.

Hell,

Here they come!

Although

rumors have been circulating

about a possible plea bargain

to lesser charges or

a probated sentence,

District A ttorney Danny Buck Davidson

has shocked East Texas

by filing first degree

murder charges against Tiede,

which could result in a life sentence.

Clearly, the tiny town

of Carthage is buzzing

with opinions over the murder.

He didn`t shoot Mrs. Nugent in the back.

He didn`t do it.

Bernhardt Tiede ain`t no monster.

Ain`t no jury gonna convict

Bernie of first degree murder.

In fact, I don`t know

if a jury`s gonna

convict him of anything

and I `II say this, if

a jury as to convict him,

they`II probably gonna

give him probation.

They ain`t gonna send

him to the penitentiary.

In the meantime, Bernie

sits in the county jail

where he`s reportedly already become

a popular inmate

Ieading a Bible study group

and cooking meals for the staff.

Now, we are

going to line the bottom

of the pie dish with cheese

to provide a barrier between

the Iiquid and the crust.

Now a Iot of people use grated cheese,

but I found that if you cut it

in Iittle quarter inch cubes,

it does a better job of keeping

the crust from getting soggy.

Now, we are going to saut the

broccoli Iightly in olive oil

till it`s just bright green.

That keeps the flavor in.

If you put it in raw,

it`s completely flavorless.

I`m not saying we want

the case totally dropped,

but isn`t there some way to keep

Bernie from getting punished too much?

That`s $14.74.

So Iet me ask you something, Mrs. Beck.

If someone came along and shot

you in the back four times,

would you still be fine with me not

Ietting them get punished too much?

If I`m on that jury, Danny Buck,

I`m votin` to acquit.

As far as convicting Bernie,

I feed you straight. I mean, even

with the confession in my pocket,

I was a bit trepidacious.

I mean, it`s Iike he cast a

spell over the entire area.

AII the Iittle old Iadies,

Methodist church people,

anybody he`d ever given anything to.

With Mrs. Nugent`s money.

AII the closet homosexuals. Everybody.

Everybody thought he was gonna get off.

But I had one card left to play.

And I went all in.

Trials are generally moved

when the judge determines

that the defendant can`t

get a fair trial Iocally.

And that`s usually because the crime

is so egregious and so well known

that everybody in the

community has already convicted

the poor son of a b*tch accused of it.

But in all the years I`ve

been doing this for a Iiving,

I have never heard of the state

seeking a change of venue

because the defendant was so well Iiked

that they couldn`t get a conviction.

So when I heard that the judge had

actually agreed to move the trial,

giving in to Danny Buck`s

harebrained request,

my first thought was, ``Oh, sh*t.

Our donkey`s in a ditch.``

??

Bring in the freezer.

Let the jury be able to see

where Mrs. Nugent spent the first

nine months of her afterlife.

A poor excuse for a casket.

Boys, make sure it opens up to the jury.

There `s some wild sh*t on

both sides of the courtroom.

But, you know, this was the big stage

the big town, the big show

they`d been waiting for

and they pulled out all the stops.

They wheeled in the actual deep freeze.

Mm-hm.

They projected pictures

of frozen dead Mrs. Nugent.

And then they started bringing

out the crying weeping relatives.

And then I went to the freezer.

And I saw

underneath her corn and her steak and..

her pot pies was..

the top of her head.

It was so horrible.

No further questions, Your Honor.

When was the Iast time you

talked to your grandmother?

Um, I don`t remember.

Isn`t it true that you and your brother

sued your grandmother

almost four years ago?

We were advised to by a Iawyer.

A Iawyer?

You mean, just some old

boy come in off the street?

Or are we talking about your Iawyer?

I guess he was working for us.

I`II say he was working for you.

He was trying to get your

grandmother`s money, wasn`t he?

Did you ever speak to her after that?

I don`t think so.

Oh, you don`t think so.

Well, you know you didn`t.

But you told us earlier that you

were real close to your grandmother.

Now was that the same woman

you were suing for money?

Is that the same woman

that you have not

spoken to in four years?

I felt in our hearts

we were still close.

I knew he was in trouble

when I saw that jury.

And Bernie was just gonna have to

get up there and explain himself

to a bunch of Saint Augustine

cousin-countin` rednecks over there.

I mean, they got more tattoos than teeth

and there ain`t no brain

in the whole dozen of `em,

and they`re supposed to decide

big things Iike this?

I mean, shoot, I wouldn`t

Iet `em work on my car.

Now, Bernie,

after you were arrested you

gave a confession, correct?

Yes, sir.

How did you feel about Marjorie Nugent?

I cared for Marjorie deeply.

I Ioved her very much.

And I`ve sent Ietters

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