Posted on 02/19/2010 7:46:46 AM PST by outpostinmass2
Norfolk District Attorney William Keating said his office is probing the botched investigation of the 1986 Amy Bishop shooting to find out if “elements of criminality” were involved.
Investigators have discovered nothing to challenge the conclusion of Braintree and State Police 23 years ago that Bishop fatally shot her 18-year-old brother, Seth, accidentally.
But questions have arisen over why the 21-year-old shooter – now accused in an Alabama triple homicide – faced no consequences for allegedly pulling a shotgun on two men at an auto body shop while demanding a getaway car or for a brief armed standoff with police.
In a telephone interview on Thursday, Keating said retired State Trooper Brian Howe, who handled the case for the district attorney’s office, told investigators this week he “has no recollection” of Braintree police telling him Bishop pulled a gun on the two workers at Dinger Ford’s auto body shop. John Kivlan, the district attorney’s top prosecutor in 1986, has also said he was not told of the incident.
Likewise, retired Braintree Police Chief John V. Polio said he was unaware of what transpired after the shooting until this week. Polio stressed that his department turned over the case to the district attorney’s office.
Braintree police reports detail both incidents. Two separate reports describe in dramatic fashion how Bishop clutched a shotgun defiantly as two officers, guns drawn, ordered her to drop the weapon.
Another report recounts Bishop being questioned 11 days after the shooting by Capt. Theodore Buker and Detective Michael Carey of the Braintree Police Department, and Howe, the state trooper. Only a brief reference is made to what happened after the shooting.
“(Bishop) also added that she did not remember having a jacket on or running out of the house with the gun,” the report reads. “Amy told us that she could not remember anything else until she saw her mother at the police station.”
Lt. James R. Sullivan filed a report after questioning Bishop the day of the shooting. Bishop denied intentionally shooting her brother but stopped answering questions when her mother entered the police booking room and told police she wanted the questioning to stop.
No reference is made to Bishop’s emotional state.
But in his final report on the case, Howe wrote that Capt. Buker told him it had “generally been impossible” to question Bishop because of her “highly emotional state.” Howe makes no mention of an armed standoff or Bishop’s alleged attempt to steal a car at gunpoint.
Keating said such “gaps” and “omissions” need to be explained.
“There have been mistakes in the handling of this case,” Keating said, adding, “If there are any elements of criminality that can be prosecuted in the future, we will be doing it.”
It is unclear how criminal charges could be filed against anyone in connection with the handling of the 23-year-old case because statute of limitations on any crime except murder has lapsed.
Asked directly if he believes the district attorney’s office was deceived, Keating replied: “Well, we will find out.”
U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, D-Quincy, who was Norfolk County district attorney in 1986, has been traveling in Israel since the investigation came under scrutiny last weekend.
His congressional office said Delahunt will return to Massachusetts this weekend and will be debriefed on the case. Kivlan, Delahunt’s former top prosecutor, is now special counsel in his congressional office.
Brandishing a weapon at someone while demanding somthing from them is called assault with a deadly weapon and unless your crazy, can get you twenty in the slammer.
Her mommy was a well placed and connected liberal. I expect this investigation to go nowhere.
As corrupt as Mass. is murder is very hard to get away with unless you are a Kennedy. It isn’t very clear how connected her mother is, being on the town personel committee can get a parking ticket fixed maybe even a summer job for your kid. Beyond that not much else.
Delahunt and the mother are around the same age. Delahunt got divorced in 1986 and is a well known fillanderer. Maybe she had dirt on him. Delahunt had a 19 year old bank teller girlfriend back in 1996. He did broom away a case for his nephew who killed a woman in a drunk driving accident.
She accidentally discharged three rounds from a pump action shotgun: the first round into a wall, followed by a lethal round using her 18-year-old brother’s chest as a target, then, a third round into the ceiling.
But, it’s OK, really.
Then US Senator from Massachusetts, Ted “the swimmer” Kennedy, must have vouched for her credibility.
It’s most likely in the missing report that, when finally confronted, she was wearing a neck brace due to shotgun recoil from her vigorous, repeated attempts to avoid shooting her brother in the chest … hence the wall and ceiling rounds.
Move along, nothing to see here folks.
Tragic accident, or, tragic investigation?
The teenage bank teller wasn’t his only girlfriend in 1996.
I saw him leaving the young lady’s apartment at 5:45 AM.
I think this may be it for Billy. :)
I heard Momma was on the Police personnel review board.
Do tell more.
But being appointed to the job at all meant she was connected. There were few women in government at any level in those days (1986) and competition for the openings was fierce, especially in small towns.
Ans. #1. Amy was a dyed in the wool Democratic Progressive.
Ans. #2. Seth had just turned 18 and had vowed to vote Republican.
Ans. #3. Saul Alinsky has written that that the ends justify the means.
<./sarc>
It was the town personel commitee and it was made up of 24 people. Braintree has a city government now but back then it was a “town” gonverment. A positition like this has vitually no power or influence and is just a bunch of busy bodies killing time. Again she might have gotten a parking ticket fixed or a neighborhood kid a cushy summer job but that is the extant of it. If she had real connections then she would have had a job that paid real money. There are connections and then there are “connections”. Getting away with Murder needs “CONNECTIONS”.
But being appointed to the job at all meant she was connected. There were few women in government at any level in those days (1986) and competition for the openings was fierce, especially in small towns.
Not really even back in 1986. That type of job means you just sign a piece of paper, I would even guess that they were short a couple of people. I have been asked a few times to be a precint commitee member and trust me I as a conservative voter in this state I have no connections. This “town” has a population of 35 thousand people. It is an inner suburb of Boston with its own subway stop. People are busy and lead busy lives. Town personel committe person is usually a person with a lot of idle time on their hands.
Her father had conveniently left the house after what Amy described as both an "argument with my father" and "a family spat," after which Amy got a sudden desire to learn how to use the shotgun.
Her mother waited for the police on the porch, while her son lay dying in the kitchen. She says she knew he wasn't going to live. Not a normal reaction for a mother.
The local police report, which contained the details of her actions in the garage and her arrest, and was said to be "missing" for 20-odd years, was found within a week of the UAH shooting, at the station house, in a box of files belonging to one of the officers, since deceased, involved in her arrest.
Amy had begun talking to local police, but when her mother arrived, she told them her adult daughter wasn't answering any more questions and they were promptly let out the back door of the station.
Apparently, Martha Coakley the sitting on her kister, AG let a well-connected cop go without bail after he sexually assaulted a 3 year old girl with a curling iron...
It is corrupt here but getting away with murder and pointing a gun at a cop is a different story. You need real connections or some real dirt on someone. I haven’t heard what the connections are yet. Delahunt definately has dirt on him we just haven’t heard what Bishop’s mother exactly had. That is what I want to know.
I disagree. In my town you have to be a friend (supporter, contributor) of the mayor and have the endorsement of your Alderman, as well as a majority vote of the town council. Those generally unpaid positions are coveted and carry a lot of power over who gets hired and who stays hired. If there is a union involved, it can mean negotiating on salaries and work rules. The mayor is likely to be very involved and very careful of who gets the appointment.
It's not the same as being precinct committee member which means actual work organizing the polls and getting out thel vote.
Are the Bishop parents still alive?
Yes,
They live in Ipswich. They are in their 70’s.
Braintree didn’t have a mayor back then. They had the classic New England style town government. This committee wouldn’t be negotiating union contracts they most likely would higher a professional for something like that.
Look if she was powerful enough to get her daughter off on a murder charge then she really set her sights low on the job front. Also she was one of 24 on the personel committee. Hardly a last word or deal breaker on anything.
My guess here is that Delahunt got divorced in 1986. His age range for girlfriends at the time was 18-20 years old. Mrs. Bishop had some dirt on him.
If the Bishop family carries big political power then this is the first I or any one else around here have heard it.
I don’t know Judith Bishop’s maiden name and this may be the wild card. We’ll see.
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