In Panola County, District Judge Diana DeVasto approved an order to recuse Panola County District Attorney Danny Buck Davidson from the Bernie Tiede case, and appoint Adrienne McFarland as Criminal District Attorney Pro Tem yesterday.

A pre-trial hearing that was scheduled for Tuesday to deal with any motions prior to the June re-sentencing hearing was cancelled due to Davidson filing the motion. Judge DeVasto set a trial date for June 1.

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.