Guilty verdict in Bishop murder trial

WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) - After just a couple hours of deliberations, the jury in the Alfred "Freddie" Bishop murder trial has returned a guilty verdict on all seven counts.

Jurors received the case after lunch, after hearing closing arguments Thursday morning at Kent County Superior Court.

Bishop, already a convicted murderer who spent more than 30 years in prison, has now been convicted of shooting to death Gabriel Medeiros during a Warwick home invasion in June, 2007. Prosecutors said he also shot two other people, who survived.

During the trial, prosecutors said DNA found on a ski mask, and a bloody golf club proved Bishop killed Medeiros.

However, while testifying is his own defense Wednesday, Bishop claimed he was ambushed when he entered the house and someone else pulled the trigger.

During closing arguments, prosecutor John Corrigan called Bishop's story "preposterous" and "completely incompatible with the evidence."

Bishop is now automatically sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Under Rhode Island law, a person already on parole for a murder conviction, who is then convicted of a second murder, automatically goes to prison for the rest of their life.