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shot up a room of university colleagues because some of them voted against granting her tenure, prosecutors argued Monday, yet two years later the families of those same victims at the University of Alabama in Huntsville may have saved her life.

Bishop was allowed to enter a guilty plea on Sept. 11 to capital murder and avoid the death penalty after Madison County District Attorney Rob Broussard learned some of the victims families strongly opposed capital punishment.

Broussard was asked following the trial why he didn't seek the death penalty anyway, given the severity of the crime.

"I think that would probably be the ultimate arrogance on my part," Broussard said. "But in deciding whether to seek the death penalty, there are lots of facets involved in that decision. Partly the defendant themselves and the severity of the crime. On those two fronts, the death penalty is certainly warranted in this case.

"But if you look at the folks who had the most at stake, who have lost the most, and victims' families, for me to disregard those feelings and forge ahead, I would be ashamed.

Bishop, a 47-year-old mother of four and a Harvard-trained biologist, was formally convicted of capital murder on Monday afternoon. Capital murder, a charge which can be used in cases involving the killing of more than one person, hold only two possible sentences, death or life in prison. Bishop received a life sentence without parole on the capital murder charge for the murder of three professors and three consecutive life sentences for her guilty plea to attempted murder in the shooting and wounding of three more colleagues.

The facts surrounding the Feb. 12, 2010 shooting on the UAH campus were not in dispute on Monday. While the trial was a legal formality, required by Alabama law to establish the elements in all capital murder cases, the courtroom was still charged.

Assistant District Attorney Tim Gann told the six-man, six-woman jury that Bishop came to the biology department faculty meeting that Friday afternoon with an ax to grind. Gann and Huntsville Police Department investigator Charlie Gray said Bishop had gone to Larry's Pistol and Pawn the week before to practice target shooting.

Dr. Debra Moriarity, now the biology department chair, described Bishop's frustration with being rejected for tenure -- a rejection that began with a vote by the biology department tenured faculty and continued at each step, culminating in a final denial of her appeal in November of 2009.

Moriarity said Bishop had been upset about the rejection, talking about it often. The faculty meeting that Friday afternoon was ordinary, Moriarity said, though it was unusual that Bishop, who was seated in front of the door, didn't speak. At around the 50-minute mark of the meeting, the shooting started.

"I looked down the paper in front of me -- the agenda -- and I heard a loud bang, like something falling, I ducked," Moriarity testified. "There was a second loud bang and as I looked up there was a third bang and I saw Dr. (Adriel) Johnson slump down. I saw her point the gun at Dr. (Maria Ragland) Davis and shoot her."

Bishop then shot Dr. Joseph Leahy as he was starting to move under a table. From under the table Moriarity saw Bishop's legs and tried unsuccessfully to grab them. Moriarity testified she appealed to Bishop stop, telling her she'd helped her before and she'd help her again.

Moriarity said she crawled forward. Bishop looked down at her and pulled the trigger, which clicked after an apparent misfire. Moriarity pushed toward the hallway and Bishop tried to fire at her, "click, click, click," Moriarity recalled.

Moriarity realized the gun had jammed, pushed Bishop into the hallway and slammed the door. Biology department professor Dr. Robert Lawton quickly locked it.

Chaos ensued, Moriarity said, as they called 911 and tried to tend to the wounded.

Moriarity said that she didn't hear Bishop speak during the shooting, but that Bishop "looked extremely determined with her jaw set."

Crime scene photos were shown on a large screen in the courtroom. The shooting lasted no more than 30 seconds, prosecutors estimated.

Dr. Gopi Podila was shot through the chin, the bullet traveling down the top of his chest and out his back. Dr. Maria Davis and Dr. Adriel Johnson were shot in the head.

When the crime scene photos were shown Bishop put her head down on the defense table.

Davis died in her chair, Johnson died on his back and Podila died face down. The three of them died within a six-foot space.

Bishop didn't look up until the photos were removed.

Defense attorney Barry Abston told The Times that Bishop was told to put her head down. The only other time she saw the photos, Abston said, she threw up.

"She said, 'I can't look at these, I'll become sick,'" Abston said, "and so we said, you know, put your head down. If you can't look at it, don't."

After her testimony, Moriarity stepped off the witness stand and fell into her husband's arms for a moment before a victim's advocate led her from the room. She was back quickly, however, and joined other victims in the courtroom, including the wife and son of Johnson and the husband of Davis.

Moriarity remained calm but emotional as Gray described the wounds on the three dead faculty members. The image of the Ruger handgun Bishop used in the shootings appeared to cause Moriarity to look at the ceiling and blink back tears.

The slide showed the exposed breach of the handgun, clearly visible were jammed rounds intended for Moriarity.

Her thoughts at that moment?

"Oh my God, but for that little bullet, I would have been one of those bodies on the floor of that conference room," Moriarity said after the trial.

Moriarity said she had thought about whether Bishop should receive the death penalty. She had decided not to decide.

"I had decided to leave it in God's hands," she said.

Gann told jurors "the reason we're here is there must be an accounting for innocent blood."

Gann and Assistant District Attorney Maggie Wallace told jurors the life sentence without parole is a just sentence.

Lead defense attorney Roy Miller spoke for Bishop at sentencing, saying she "constantly expressed great remorse" after her arrest and wanted to write the survivors and victims.

"She wanted to write them every day," Miller said, but defense attorneys stopped her believing letters would seem self-serving.

Dr. Jacqueline Johnson, the wife of Adriel Johnson, spoke briefly to the media after the verdict.

"It's very difficult when something so heinous and senseless strips you away of your support system," Johnson said. "I've come to terms with what has happened. But in my heart, I feel that the loss will not be diminished by this sentence. Today merely begins a new chapter. In the coming months, in the coming days, we will continue to move forward to ensure that measures and justice is rendered for all parties that are responsible for the events that occurred on Feb. 12, 2010."

Johnson and the Davis family have a pending lawsuit against Bishop, her husband Jim Anderson and UAH Provost Vistasp Karbhari.

Dr. Joseph Leahy, who was shot in the head and seriously wounded during Bishop's attack, said he was not actively seeking the death penalty for Bishop. He said he had met with prosecutors. He said God saved his life that day and that makes him want to be a better man. Leahy was asked if he had anything to say to Bishop and replied that she "has kind of ceased to exist for me.".

"There's no closure overall because I will always remember my friends and colleagues," he said.

Bishop also shot and seriously injured staff assistant Stephanie Monticciolo, and Professor Luis Cruz-Vera suffered a minor wound during the attack.

Defense attorney Robert Tuten said the evidence they gathered showed that Bishop is mentally ill, but that her illness would not have been sufficient to acquit her of a crime the defense said she still doesn't remember. But Tuten said the evidence would have likely persuaded a jury not to recommend the death penalty for Bishop.

"I think the attorneys in this case came to the conclusion that this is where we'd be at the end of a trial," Tuten said of the plea agreement.

Broussard said Bishop is not "wired completely normally," but he also doesn't think she is criminally insane.

"She has a track history of some one-way mean, violent conduct," Broussard said. "Any time you take something to a full-blown trial, there are risks on all sides. And that's something I had to (consider). If they put up a mental defense at a full-blown trial, is there any chance in the world that their mental defense would prevail? I would have to tell you there is a remote chance in my estimation. All sides are trying to control the risks in these types of matters.

Sparing her from death row and allowing her "some semblance of a life" in the general prison population is the best they could do for their client, the defense team said.

But Bishop did not really escape the death penalty, Abston said. "It's death by prison," he said.

Times staff writers Paul Gattis, Lee Roop and Pat Ammons contributed to this report.