QUINCY -- U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, the former district attorney whose office investigated the fatal 1986 shooting of Seth Bishop by his sister Amy, said Monday he does not feel his office "bears any responsibility" for Bishop being freed without charges.In a telephone interview with the Patriot Ledger, the Quincy Democrat said State Police Trooper Brian Howe correctly concluded that Amy Bishop shot and killed her 18-year-old brother, Seth, by accident. But Delahunt said he has "very serious concerns" that Braintree police never alerted Howe or his prosecutors that, after the shooting, Amy Bishop fled with a loaded shotgun and allegedly tried to steal a getaway car from two men at gunpoint. He also raised concerns that Howe and the district attorney's office were not told that Bishop was arrested after a brief armed standoff with police.
"We never had that information," said Delahunt, who was Norfolk County district attorney at the time.
Because the shooting was ruled an accident, Delahunt said, the case was never brought to his attention.
Shotgun blast to the chest and he never heard about it. How about that ...
| No, it was never officially brought to his attention in his capacity as prosecuting attorney. A very different thing, meaning it didn't interfere with his ability to sit at a dinner party with her mother. |
"There clearly was an opportunity missed for a psychiatric evaluation," Delahunt said.
Had Braintree police charged the 21-year-old on lesser charges, an evaluation could have been sought in the district court, he said.
The aftermath of the shooting is spelled out in Braintree police reports. Asked whether his investigators should have requested those documents as part of their own investigation, Delahunt said that "goes without saying."
He said that current Norfolk County District Attorney William R. Keating, his successor who is now probing the handling of the 23-year-old investigation, should find out whether those details were purposely withheld from the district attorney's office.
Alabama authorities charged Bishop this month in a stunning triple homicide. Police said the professor shot and killed three colleagues on the University of Alabama campus and wounded three others after being denied tenure.
Delahunt, who until this morning remained silent on the case, returned this weekend from a trip to Israel. He said he initially had no recollection of the case, but has since reviewed police reports from the investigation.