A Decatur man was sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of murdering the woman with whom he’d been in a relationship for more than a decade but married just weeks earlier.
James Leon Beard III, 46, was convicted Friday of murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston said in a news release. Beard was found guilty of killing his wife, 38-year-old Angela Bishop, of Hartsville, South Carolina, in March 2017.
The couple had been involved in a tumultuous 13-year relationship prior to their surprise marriage, Boston said. Beard’s motive in the killing remains unclear.
Credit: Family Photo
Credit: Family Photo
Beard and Bishop had four children whose ages ranged from 8-13 at the time of her death, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. After shooting Bishop at the door of his apartment, Beard carried her body to her car, where their four children were waiting, and placed her in the driver’s seat. The children each gave police similar accounts about what they saw.
According to Boston, Beard and Bishop had a long-term relationship that included multiple violent incidents. Beard had been arrested twice in South Carolina on domestic violence charges, and Bishop told family members that he had previously threatened her with a gun, Boston said. Friends and family of Bishop were surprised when the couple married a few weeks before her murder, and she confessed to some that she thought she made a mistake.
Beard had moved to Decatur in 2016, the year before the shooting, while the couple were on a break, Boston said. Bishop was a social worker in Darlington County, South Carolina, and was pursuing a nursing degree at Northeastern Technical College, according to her obituary.
The pair reconnected, and Bishop was bringing their children to see Beard at his apartment in the 2900 block of Panthersville Road the day she was killed, Boston said. When she got to Beard’s unit, he opened the door and shot her with a Berretta .40-caliber handgun. Beard carried Bishop’s body downstairs to the car, asked a bystander to call 911 and threw the Berretta into the woods behind his apartment building.
At the time, Beard told police the shooting was accidental, the AJC reported. He claimed that Bishop had been banging on his door and he could not see anyone through the peephole. Beard said the handgun had “gone off” when he opened the door.
Beard was sentenced to life in prison plus five years, three of which will be served in custody, Boston said.
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