Amy Bishop indicted for UAH murders

Doubtless, former UAH president David B. Williams will be called to testify, and or be sued as well.

Amy Bishop indicted in UAH shootings

Published: Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 5:01 PM
By Brian Lawson, The Huntsville Times

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — A Madison County grand jury has indicted Amy Bishop on capital murder and attempted murder charges in connection with the February 2010 campus shootings at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Dr. Amy Bishop, PhD - booking photo from Huntsville Police Department

Madison County District Attorney Rob Broussard said the indictments were handed down last week.

Bishop is charged with killing three fellow biology faculty members: Dr. Maria Ragland Davis, Dr. Adriel Johnson and department chairman Dr. Gopi Podila during a shooting rampage at a Feb. 12 faculty meeting.

The attempted murder charges stem from the shootings of Dr. Joseph Leahy, a biology faculty member, staff assistant Stephanie Monticciolo, and professor Dr. Luis Cruz-Vera. Leahy and Monticciolo were severely wounded and Cruz-Vera was able to return to work shortly after the incident.

A capital murder conviction carries a sentence of life without parole or the death penalty. Broussard’s office has not indicated if it will seek the death penalty for Bishop.

A Harvard-trained biologist, Bishop was denied tenure the previous year and had vigorously complained about that decision for months before the shooting. She and her husband, James Anderson Jr., have four children.

In the wake of the UAH shooting, investigators in Massachusetts reopened a case involving the 1986 shooting death of Bishop’s brother, Seth, which had been ruled an accident.

Following that probe, a Suffolk County grand jury indicted Bishop for murder last June. Two days after that indictment Bishop reportedly cut herself in a suicide attempt at the Madison County jail.

Bishop remains in jail, without bond, as required by Alabama law in capital murder cases.

Broussard said the case will take roughly a year before going to trial and that depends on factors like the calendar of the Madison County circuit judge who gets assigned the case.

Bishop’s attorney Roy Mller, who has previously indicated his defense will focus on Bishop’s mental state, was not immediately available for comment Tuesday.

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