Prosecutors to seek death penalty for accused UAH shooter Amy Bishop

Dr. Amy Bishop

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against accused UAH shooter Amy Bishop, Madison County District Attorney Rob Broussard said today.
Bishop, 46, is charged with capital murder in the Feb. 12, 2010, shooting rampage at the University of Alabama in Huntsville that left three of her biology faculty colleagues dead. She also faces attempted murder charges for the shootings of three other biology department employees.
The Harvard-trained biologist is accused of killing Dr. Maria Ragland Davis, Dr. Adriel Johnson and department chair Dr. Gopi Podila. She is also charged with attempting to kill Dr. Joseph Leahy, a biology faculty member, staff assistant Stephanie Monticciolo and Dr. Luis Cruz-Vera. Leahy and Monticciolo were severely wounded; Cruz-Vera returned to work shortly after the shootings.
Broussard said he told Circuit Judge Alan Mann and Bishop's attorneys Roy Miller and Barry Abston at a status conference last month that the state would pursue the death penalty for Bishop.
"When the judge broached the subject of the death penalty on the record and in open court," Broussard said, "we informed him and the defense that the state is in fact seeking the death penalty in this case."
Broussard is prosecuting the case with Assistant District Attorneys Tim Gann and Maggie Golden Wallace. Bishop's attorney said prosecutors did inform the defense about their plans to seek the death penalty.
"To my knowledge, no written motions were filed in this direction," Miller said. "But we were informed, whether it was in (the judge's) chambers or in some sort of proceeding. It comes as no surprise and we are prepared to go in that direction."
There is no clear timeline for Bishop's case going to trial. She was indicted in March and her attorneys have notified the court they intend to use a defense of "not guilty by reason of insanity."
A capital murder trial has two phases if prosecutors seek the death penalty. The first is the trial. If Bishop is convicted, a penalty phase would be held with the same jury.
The penalty phase focuses on the defense offering mitigating circumstances that might cause a jury to recommend a sentence of life without parole. Prosecutors would tell the jury about aggravating factors that warrant a death sentence.
There are several aggravating factors under the law in Alabama, including knowingly creating a great risk of death to many persons, an offense that was especially heinous or cruel, and an offense that intentionally kills two or more people by one act or scheme.
Among mitigating factors are the defendant's lack of a significant criminal history, that the offense occurred under extreme mental or emotional disturbance, and the capacity of the defendant to recognize the criminality of the conduct.
The jury makes a sentencing recommendation, weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances
The trial judge in Alabama has the final word on the sentence and is not bound by the jury's recommendation.
There are four women on death row in Alabama, three were each convicted of killing one of their children and the fourth faces a death sentence for arranging the shooting death of her husband who testified against her before a grand jury in a bigamy case.
There are 199 male inmates currently on death row in Alabama, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections. Alabama has executed just over 200 male inmates since 1927.
State records indicate Alabama has executed four women since 1930. The most recent was the 2002 electric chair execution of Lynda Lyon Block, who had been convicted of murdering an Opelika police officer.
Bishop is also charged with the 1986 murder of her brother Seth, in Braintree, Mass. The shooting had originally been ruled an accident, but after the UAH shootings, prosecutors reopened that case and a grand jury indicted Bishop on the murder charge.