Ex-professor in first court appearance, held without bail over gun rampage at Ala. university

By Desiree Hunter, AP
Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Judge keeps Ala. campus shooting suspect in jail

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Former biology professor Amy Bishop appeared in court for the first time Tuesday since the fatal shooting of three colleagues during a faculty meeting at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and was ordered to remain in jail without bond.

Bishop, handcuffed and wearing a red jail jump suit, looked gaunt as she entered the courtroom for a preliminary hearing on capital murder and other charges. Her shackles could be heard clanging as she was led in. She did not speak during the hearing.

District Judge Ruth Ann Hall found there was probable cause to bind the case over to a grand jury and did so, also ordering that Bishop be held without bond. Bishop’s husband James Anderson was not in the courtroom.

The Harvard-educated biologist, who is listed as 44 on school records, has been jailed since she was arrested shortly after the Feb. 12 rampage in a small conference room that left three dead and three people wounded. She was fired after the shootings.

Bishop is charged with capital murder, which can bring the death penalty if convicted, although prosecutors have not made a decision on whether they will seek a death penalty.

Her attorney, Roy Miller, has said he will argue that Bishop was insane. He has told reporters she has shown signs of being unable to relate to reality.

The judge issued a gag order last week for the prosecution and defense as well as law enforcement personnel, barring them from talking to the media. Hall says the order will ensure a fair trial.

At the time of the shooting, Bishop was in her last semester of teaching at UAH, which had denied her the job protections of tenure. Colleagues said she was angry over the tenure decision.

Bishop’s arrest after the Alabama shooting led to revelations about her role in other cases, including shooting her 18-year-old brother to death in the family’s suburban Boston home in 1986. That death was ruled an accident at the time and she was not charged, but authorities in Massachusetts have ordered an inquest into the case.

Bishop and her husband were also questioned in the 1993 mailing of a pipe bomb to a medical researcher who had given her a negative job review. They were never charged, but the U.S. attorney in Boston is reviewing the matter.

YOUR VIEW POINT
NAME : (REQUIRED)
MAIL : (REQUIRED)
will not be displayed
WEBSITE : (OPTIONAL)
YOUR
COMMENT :