Grand jury investigating 1986 Bishop killing

Former Braintree Police Chief John V. Polio, who ran the department when Seth Bishop was killed at the Bishop family home, said he has received a subpoena to testify before the grand jury on Thursday.

He said it was "a good move'' for Keating to call a grand jury to determine whether any charges should be brought.

"I would think from the point of seeing justice done they want to clear the air to determine whether Amy Bishop did accidentally kill her brother or, who knows, the probability that it was more than just an accident,'' Polio said in a telephone interview today. "It's a question that has to be answered or, at least, try to be answered. Not that they'll ever get the answer, but at least I think it should be answered.''

Bishop's mother, Judith, declined to answer any questions about the grand jury and told a Globe reporter who called her home, "I'm not well. My husband's not well. I don't know how I can face any of this. I can't talk to you. I'm sorry.''

Huntsville, Ala. attorney Roy W. Miller, who represents Bishop in the shootings there, said he couldn't talk about the grand jury proceedings in Massachusetts because he's under a gag order in Alabama, but he noted, "It does not surprise me. We've got no control over whatever they do up there. We just have to live with whatever they do up there.''

Quincy District Court Judge Mark S. Coven filed his inquest report in Norfolk Superior Court last week. It was impounded pending a decision by Norfolk District Attorney William Keating on whether to pursue charges.

The report can be released only when no further prosecution is warranted -- for example, if the judge determined Bishop is innocent or if Keating or the grand jury decides against charging her.

Shortly after her arrest in Alabama, revelations emerged that Bishop had shot her brother to death in 1986 in Massachusetts, but the death had been ruled an accident. After questions were raised about the investigation of the case, Keating asked for a judicial inquest into the case.

Bishop took her father's shotgun on Dec. 6, 1986, and loaded it in her bedroom before fatally shooting her 18-year-old brother in the kitchen of the family home. She then ran to an auto dealership, where she held two workers at gunpoint and demanded a car.

Investigators said in February they had discovered evidence suggesting Bishop might have intentionally shot her brother.

Keating said at the time that his investigators enlarged crime scene photos and, next to 12-gauge ammunition in Bishop's bedroom, found a news article that chronicled a crime spree similar to Bishop's actions on the day of her brother's death. He said the story could reflect Bishop's intent.

Keating said at the time that he believed serious mistakes were made in the initial investigation of Seth Bishop's death, and that he could not help but wonder whether the deaths in Alabama could have been prevented if the original investigation had been more thorough.