CARTHAGE (KYTX) -- An order signed by Judge Diane DeVasto and filed with the Panola County District Clerk's office Tuesday morning formally recused District Attorney Danny Buck Davidson from any further proceedings in Bernie Tiede's ongoing case.
Tiede served approximately seventeen years of a life sentence for the 1996 murder of Carthage millionaire Marjorie Nugent. He was freed in 2014 in anticipation of a new punishment trial based on evidence that emerged indicating he was a victim of childhood sexual abuse. That evidence convinced DeVasto that a jury might have handed down a lesser sentence, had it been presented with the evidence at the original trial.
Tiede remains free on bond until his new trial. He lives in Austin with Richard Linklater, the filmmaker responsible for the 2011 dark comedy feature film depicting the story of Nugent's murder.
Davidson filed a motionMonday afternoon requesting his own recusal in the case. He has represented the State of Texas in Tiede's prosecution since the original investigation that led to a trial in 1999.
"Due to the fact that I have become, through no fault of my own, a witness in the case, I can not remain the prosecutor," he wrote in the filing. "Therefore, justice would be better served if the Criminal District Attorney and all Assistant Criminal District Attorneys of Panola County, Texas were recused and the appointment of a special prosecutor be made."
Davidson's motiondid not specify how he became a witness. It was filed four days after a similar motion in which Nugent's family argued for Davidson's recusal.
At his office Tuesday, Davidson had no immediate comment on the recusal, except to say he believes he has done nothing wrong or unethical in the case to this point.
"Danny Buck's skirts are clean," the district attorney said. "This ball has been rolling for a long time. It's not a last-minute thing."
Nugent's family members said they were surprised by Davidson's decision to bow out.
"We're feeling better than we did yesterday," Nugent's son Rod said.
Rod said the family had all but given up hope that the district attorney would recuse himself after months of private conversation--said to have included talks of a recusal--were followed by what the family perceived as inaction.
"It's exciting for me because we're looking at finally having someone with an objective eye look at all of the evidence and make a decision," Nugent's granddaughter Shanna said.
"We think this opens the door to where our chances of that actually happening have improved," Rod said. "And so for that reason we're happy about it."
The Nugents see Davidson's recusal as something of a battle victory.
"I'm just hopeful and I'm very proud," Shanna said.
Still, she said, the family expects Tiede's trial to be all-out war.
"I've always believed in the justice system," Shanna said. "I've always believed that you do have to take a stand for what you think is right. And, for me, it's 'I want the person who murdered my grandmother, who victimized this elderly woman and stole all her money to actually come to terms with what he did.'"
Davidson's motion indicated that he had been in touch with Adrienne McFarland, the chief of the Criminal Prosecutions Division of the Texas Attorney General's Office, and that she agreed to have her team take over the case as the trial nears.
DeVasto originally scheduled the trial for June of this year, but her order Tuesday canceled a hearing set for 1 that afternoon. It was unclear when that hearing would be rescheduled and how the delay might affect the trial schedule going forward.
