Amy Bishop

Parties

• Amy Bishop — biology professor and perpetrator
• James Anderson — Bishop’s husband

Timeline

• April 13–16, 2010 — An inquest was scheduled for Seth Bishop’s 1986 killing.
• February 12, 2010 — University of Alabama in Huntsville shooting.
• February 15, 2010 — Charges were read to Bishop during a closed-door hearing presided over by an Alabama judge.
• February 16, 2010 — Bishop was announced as charged with first-degree murder in her brother’s death nearly 24 years after his shooting.
• February 19, 2010 — A memorial service was held at UA Huntsville.
• February 25, 2010 — District Attorney Keating sent a letter to District Court Judge Mark Coven to start a judicial inquest into the 1986 shooting.
• June 16, 2010 — Bishop was charged with first degree murder in her brother’s death nearly 24 years after his shooting.
• June 18, 2010 — Bishop attempted suicide in the Huntsville jail.
• September 11, 2012 — Bishop pleaded guilty.
• September 24, 2012 — Trial under Alabama law (condensed version of the evidence) and sentencing to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Background

Amy Bishop was a biology professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. She was married to James Anderson and was the mother of four children.

Bishop was born April 24, 1965 and was 44 at the time of the shooting. She grew up in Massachusetts and completed her undergraduate degree at Northeastern University in Boston, where her father, Samuel Bishop, was a Professor in the Art Department. She earned her Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard University.

Bishop’s 1993 thesis at Harvard was titled "The role of methoxatin (PQQ) in the respiratory burst of phagocytes", and it was 137 pages in length. Her research interests included induction of adaptive resistance to nitric oxide in the central nervous system, and utilization of motor neurons for the development of neural circuits grown on biological computer chips. She published at least four scientific articles between 1994 and 1998 as a lead or co-author.

She joined the faculty of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alabama (UA) in Huntsville as an Assistant Professor in 2003, and was teaching five courses prior to the shooting. Previously, she was an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Bishop and her husband competed in a technology competition and developed a "portable cell incubator", coming in third and winning $25,000. Prodigy Biosystems, where Anderson is employed, raised $1.25 million to develop the "automated cell incubator," although some scientists consulted by the press declared it unnecessary and too expensive.

A friend and fellow member of a writing group in Massachusetts said Bishop had penned three unpublished novels, one of which featured a female scientist working to defeat a potential pandemic virus and struggling with suicidal thoughts at the threat of not earning tenure. Bishop was the second cousin of the novelist John Irving and was a member of the Hamilton Writer's Group while living in Ipswich, Massachusetts in the late 1990s, and she apparently saw writing as "her ticket out of academia." The friend said Bishop had a literary agent and club members said she "would frequently cite her Harvard degree and family ties to Irving to boost her credential as a serious writer."

Multiple colleagues described Bishop as smart but abrasive, with one describing her as feeling "entitled to praise." Multiple colleagues expressed concern over her behavior. She was described as interrupting meetings with "bizarre tangents ... left field kind of stuff," being "strange," "crazy," doing things that weren't normal, and being "out of touch with reality." One of the concerns came from a member of Bishop's tenure-review committee.

After Bishop’s tenure was denied and she learned that this colleague referred to her as "crazy," she filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), alleging gender discrimination, with the professor’s remark to be used as possible evidence in that case. The professor did not retract his comments:

"The professor was given the opportunity to back off the claim, or to say it was a flippant remark. But he didn't. 'I said she was crazy multiple times and I stand by that,' the professor said. 'This woman has a pattern of erratic behavior. She did things that weren't normal ... she was out of touch with reality.'"

In 2009, several students said they complained to administrators about Bishop on at least three occasions, saying she was "ineffective in the classroom and had odd, unsettling ways." A petition was signed by "dozens of students," sent to the department head, and the complaints did not result in any classroom changes.

Bishop was suspended without pay retroactively on the day of the attack, and later in a one-paragraph letter dated February 26, 2010, she was fired. Bishop received a letter of termination from Jack Fix, Dean of the College of Sciences, which did not state a reason. Her termination was effective February 12, 2010.

The offence

On February 12, 2010, Bishop opened fire at a routine biology department faculty meeting at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UA Huntsville) in Huntsville, Alabama.

During the meeting, attended by approximately 12 individuals, Bishop stood up and began shooting those closest to her with a 9-millimeter handgun. The police confiscated a large binder containing documents pertaining to her "tenure battle," her computer, and the family van.

Bishop was described as sitting quietly for 30 or 40 minutes at the meeting before pulling out the handgun "just before" 4:00 p.m. CST, according to a faculty member.

Joseph Ng, an associate professor who witnessed the attack, said:

"[She] got up suddenly, took out a gun and started shooting at each one of us. She started with the one closest to her, and went down the row shooting her targets in the head."

Another survivor, Debra Moriarity, dean of the university's graduate program and a professor of biochemistry, said:

"This wasn't random shooting around the room; this was execution style."

Those shot were on one side of the oval table used during the meeting. The five individuals on the other side, including Ng, dropped to the floor. After Bishop fired several rounds, Moriarity said Bishop pointed the gun at her and pulled the trigger, but she heard only a "click" as her gun "either jammed or ran out of ammunition." Moriarity said Bishop appeared initially "angry," and then following the apparent weapon malfunction became "perplexed."

Ng said Moriarity attempted to stop Bishop by approaching her and asking her to stop, and then helped other survivors push Bishop from the room and block the door. Ng said:

"Moriarity was probably the one that saved our lives. She was the one that initiated the rush.

The suspected murder weapon, a 9 mm handgun, was found in a bathroom on the second floor of the building.

Bishop did not have a permit to carry a concealed weapon as required by state law. She was arrested a few minutes later outside the building.

Shortly after her arrest, Bishop was quoted as saying:

"It didn't happen. There's no way."

When asked about the deaths of her colleagues, Bishop replied:

"There's no way. They're still alive."

Victims

Three faculty members were killed and three others were injured. Only a few students were present in the building at the time of the shooting, and none were harmed.

A memorial service was held at UA Huntsville on Friday, February 19, 2010, with 3,000 people in attendance.

The victims’ names, positions, and conditions were:

• Gopi Podila — chairman of biology department — deceased
• Maria Ragland Davis — biology professor — deceased
• Adriel D. Johnson, Sr. — biology professor — deceased
• Luis Rogelio Cruz-Vera — biology professor — released from hospital 2/4/10
• Joseph G. Leahy — biology professor — released from hospital 4/14/10
• Stephanie Monticciolo — staff assistant — released from hospital 3/29/10

Investigation

University personnel expressed concern to police that Bishop had "booby trapped the science building with a 'herpes bomb'" intended to spread the virus. She previously worked with the herpes virus while completing her post-doctoral studies, and a novel she wrote described the spread of a virus similar to herpes throughout the world "causing pregnant women to miscarry." Police searched the premises and found only the handgun used in the shooting.

Police interviewed Bishop’s husband, James Anderson, after it was determined that she had called him to pick her up after the shooting; they did not charge him with a crime.

A neighbor later revealed that he saw the couple leaving their home with duffel bags on Friday afternoon, prior to the shooting. Anderson revealed that his wife had borrowed the gun used in the shooting and that he escorted her to an indoor shooting range in the weeks prior to the incident.

Arrest and custody

Bishop was held at the Madison County, Alabama jail without bail.

On February 15, during a closed-door hearing presided over by an Alabama judge, the charges were read to Bishop. After the hearing, Bishop was on suicide watch.

Bishop attempted suicide in the Huntsville jail on June 18, 2010. She survived, was treated at a hospital, and returned to jail. Her husband complained that authorities did not inform him of the incident.

Charges

Bishop was charged with:

• one count of capital murder
• three counts of attempted murder

She was eligible for either the death penalty or life in prison, according to Alabama law.

Trial and plea

Bishop secured an unnamed attorney and was held without bail. Her court-appointed attorney was Roy W. Miller.

Initially, Miller said Bishop had severe mental health issues that appeared to be paranoid schizophrenia, then retracted that statement saying he had spoken out of turn. Miller acknowledged Bishop’s role in the attack and said:

"This is not a whodunit. This lady has committed this offense or offenses in front of the world. It gets to be a question in my mind of her mental capacity at the time, or her mental state at the time that these acts were committed."

Miller also said he would enlist the help of one or more psychiatrists to examine Bishop, who said this was not the first time she had no recollection of something that had happened. Miller acknowledged he did not know if Bishop was insane, that determining whether she was culpable would be left to a psychiatrist, and that Bishop was "very sorry for what she's done."

In September 2011, Bishop pleaded not guilty by means of the insanity defense.

In 2012, the spouse of one of the murdered researchers wrote a letter to the judge presiding over the case. Bishop’s lawyers offered to change her plea to guilty in exchange for the prosecution not seeking the death penalty. Chief prosecutor Robert Broussard contacted and learned from the nine survivors that none wanted the death sentence for Bishop. Broussard decided not to seek the death penalty, and Bishop changed her plea to guilty.

On September 11, 2012, Bishop pleaded guilty to the charges to avoid the death penalty.

On September 24, 2012, Bishop’s jury heard a condensed version of the evidence as required by Alabama law.

Quoted statements and courtroom reactions

In coverage of the sentencing, a description said Bishop did not speak in court, but her attorney said she had often expressed great remorse for the victims and their families. The attorney Roy Miller said:

"She is shattered beyond belief,"

District Attorney Rob Broussard said Bishop’s reaction in court did not make sense and stated:

"You can’t take a loaded 9 mm and hold it inches away from human beings’ heads and tell me you didn’t mean to do that,"

A police investigator, Charlie Gray, said police believed Bishop opened fire because she was angry over being denied tenure, and stated:

'She would say, ‘It didn’t happen. I wasn’t there. It wasn’t me,'’"

Sentencing

On September 24, 2012, Bishop was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in Alabama.

Aftermath and related civil actions

In November 2010, survivors Leahy and Monticciolo filed lawsuits against Anderson and Bishop to recover damages.

In January 2011, attorneys representing Davis' and Johnson's families filed wrongful death lawsuits against Bishop, Anderson, and the University.

Other allegations and prior incidents

Tenure denial and related conflict

The faculty meeting under way when Bishop opened fire was described as a routine meeting unrelated to her tenure. In March 2009, Bishop was denied tenure by the university and expected that her teaching contract would not be renewed after March 2010.

Bishop appealed the decision to the University’s administration, which determined the process was carried out according to policy and denied the appeal without reviewing the content of the tenure application itself.

Anderson described the denial of her tenure as an "issue" in recent months and described the tenure process as "a long, basically hard fight." He said it was his understanding that she "exceeded the qualifications for tenure," and that she was distressed at the likelihood of losing her position barring a successful appeal.

2002 International House of Pancakes incident

In 2002, Bishop was charged with and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault plus disorderly conduct, receiving probation. The incident involved Bishop punching a woman who had received the last booster seat at an International House of Pancakes in Peabody, Massachusetts.

The police report said Bishop strode over, demanded the seat, and launched into a profanity-laced rant. When the woman would not give the seat up, Bishop punched her in the head while yelling "I am Dr. Amy Bishop."

Bishop’s victim was identified as Michelle Gjika. After the 2010 shooting, Gjika declined to comment on the restaurant incident saying, "It's not something I want to relive."

Prosecutors recommended that Bishop attend anger management classes, though it was unclear whether the judge ordered her to do so. Her husband said she never attended anger management classes.

Prior violent incidents and investigations

Bishop had previous encounters with law enforcement officials due to "an outburst or violent act" on her part in each instance remaining "unscathed." She did not come to the attention of the UA-Huntsville administration or other employers.

1993 pipe-bomb incident

Investigators said Bishop and James Anderson were suspects in a 1993 letter-bomb case. Paul Rosenberg, a Harvard Medical School professor and physician at Children’s Hospital Boston, received a package containing two pipe bombs that failed to explode.

Rosenberg was Bishop’s supervisor at a Children’s Hospital neurobiology lab. Bishop allegedly had been concerned about receiving a negative evaluation from Rosenberg and reportedly was "in a dispute" with Rosenberg. Bishop resigned from her position at the hospital because Rosenberg felt she "could not meet the standards required for the work."

According to documents based upon witness interviews, Bishop was "reportedly upset" and "on the verge of a nervous breakdown" because of the situation.

Anderson reportedly told a witness that he wanted to "shoot," "stab" or "strangle" Rosenberg prior to the attempted bombing. Anderson denied he had ever threatened Rosenberg, saying:

"I wouldn't know the guy if he walked into a bar. And allegedly this tip came into a tip line, and the validity of the witness was never ascertained."

Investigators said the USPIS-ATF investigation "focused" on Bishop and Anderson, but closed without charges filed due to lack of evidence. The investigation described the couple refusing to cooperate by refusing to open their door, refusing searches of their home, and refusing polygraph tests.

U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz reviewed the case and decided Bishop would not be charged. Ortiz determined the initial investigation in 1993 was "appropriate and thorough"; the case remained unsolved.

Brother’s 1986 shooting

When Bishop was 21, she fatally shot her 18-year-old brother, Seth Bishop, on December 6, 1986, at their home in Braintree, Massachusetts.

Braintree police initially classified the incident as an "accident." In statements to Braintree police that day, both Amy Bishop and her mother, Judy Bishop, described the shooting as accidental.

After a brief inquiry by state police in 1986 (reported in 1987), authorities repeated the Braintree police department’s initial assessment that the shooting was accidental, and district attorney Bill Delahunt later decided not to file charges.

Detailed records had disappeared by 1988, and Braintree police chief Paul Frazier said on February 13, 2010:

"The report's gone, removed from the files."

Frazier later said the “accident” description was inaccurate and that then-chief John Polio ordered Bishop released to her mother rather than being charged. Frazier said the members of the department were frustrated over the release. Polio denied that there had been a cover-up.

On February 16, 2010, it was announced Bishop was charged with first degree murder in her brother’s death nearly 24 years after the shooting. On June 16, 2010, Bishop was charged with first degree murder in her brother’s death.

Norfolk County District Attorney William Keating concluded that probable cause existed in 1986 to arrest and charge her for crimes committed after she fled the house. Keating said she took the shotgun to a nearby auto dealership shop and brandished it at two employees in an attempt to get a car, and that she could have been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, carrying a dangerous weapon, and unlawful possession of ammunition. Keating said the statute of limitations had expired on each of these charges and that the most serious charge considered in 1986 was manslaughter.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick ordered state police to review their efforts in the investigation, stating:

"It is critical that we provide as clear an understanding as possible about all aspects of this case and its investigation to ensure that where mistakes were made they are not repeated in the future."

On February 25, 2010, Keating sent a letter to District Court Judge Mark Coven to start a judicial inquest into the 1986 shooting and said newly enlarged crime scene photos from Bishop’s bedroom revealed a news article that might relate to Bishop’s intent; Keating did not identify the specific news article.

Inquest and statements about evidence

Keating announced an inquest would be held April 13–16, 2010 and Judge Mark Coven was scheduled to hold the inquest.

On March 1, 2010, former Massachusetts State Police Detective Brian Howe broke his silence, stating he looked forward to addressing the judicial inquest and stood by his 1987 report and his agreement with then-Braintree lead investigator Captain Theodore Buker that the shooting was accidental. Howe said he was assigned to the case nearly two hours after the shooting and called Braintree, where he was told he would not be needed that day because Bishop had already been released into her parents’ custody. Howe said Braintree police never informed him that Bishop had allegedly accosted employees at a car dealership at gunpoint. Howe said he repeatedly requested the December 6 incident reports from Braintree police but never received them.

On March 1, 2010, Keating announced the inquest and said:

"Jobs weren't done, responsibilities weren't met and justice wasn't served."

In a later report about Massachusetts prosecution, Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey said he would not prosecute Bishop for allegedly murdering her brother and stated his office would file a "nolle prosequi" which would allow prosecutors to revive the first-degree murder charge if circumstances changed. Morrissey said:

"We will not move to have her returned to Massachusetts,"
and "The penalty we would seek for a first-degree murder conviction is already in place."
Morrissey added: "In almost all cases, guilty pleas mark the end of the process and the conviction is not vulnerable to being overturned on appeal."

The coverage also described that Bishop used her father’s shotgun to kill her younger brother in front of her mother, Judith, and ran from the family’s home still armed with the firearm. It described that as Braintree police rushed to the scene, Bishop ran to a nearby car dealership where she tried to commandeer a car at gunpoint and was taken into custody, then released within 20 minutes into the custody of her parents, with no criminal charges filed at the time. It described that the Alabama killings prompted an inquest into Seth Bishop’s killing that led to the first degree murder charge. It also stated that testimony of the Braintree police chief at the time, John V. Polio, had been sealed and that Polio had since died. It also said Bishop’s parents testified during the inquest and insisted that Seth Bishop’s death was a horrific accident, not a crime.

Civil and legal considerations in the Alabama case

Bishop was convicted after a brief trial that followed her guilty plea. The jury deliberated for about 20 minutes before convicting Amy Bishop. The coverage stated that she showed no reaction as the verdict was read, did not speak in court, and her attorney said she expressed great remorse for the victims and their families.

Notes on courtroom competency and mental capacity

Miller said it was a question of Bishop’s mental capacity or mental state at the time of the acts and that psychiatrists would examine his client. Miller acknowledged Bishop expressed being "very sorry" for what she had done and that her lack of recollection about something had happened previously as well.

Other details

Bishop’s vehicle and technology items were part of the evidence collection: police confiscated a large binder containing documents pertaining to her "tenure battle," her computer, and the family van.

A police investigator in coverage testified that Bishop initially denied having anything to do with the rampage. During trial coverage, Bishop shook her head whenever the judge or prosecutors described the killings as intentional.

After the trial, survivors and family members in coverage were described as responding to the guilty verdict and life sentence.