The basis for a capital murder charge against former University of Alabama professor Amy Bishop is expected to be laid out in open court Tuesday at a hearing to determine whether there's enough evidence for her to stand trial.

Bishop, 44, is accused of gunning down colleagues at a faculty meeting on February 12. The former biology professor is charged with murder and three counts of attempted murder in the shootings at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Bishop is scheduled to appear in Madison County Circuit Court on Tuesday morning for a preliminary hearing before Judge Ruth Ann Hall. Prosecutors are expected to call police officers and perhaps other witnesses.

Under Alabama law, the case will go to a grand jury if the judge finds there is sufficient evidence to pursue the charges against Bishop.

Her court-appointed lawyer, Roy Miller, has indicated in comments to the media that the case will focus on Bishop's mental state. According to Miller, Bishop was under suicide watch in jail.

A gag order was issued Friday, and parties on both sides did not respond to requests for comment.

Survivors of the massacre said earlier that Bishop, a Harvard-trained geneticist who had recently been denied tenure at Alabama, stood up at the end of a biology department faculty meeting and started shooting.

The university identified the victims as Gopi Podila, chairman of the biological sciences department; Maria Davis, associate professor of biology; and Adriel Johnson, associate professor of biology. Three others were wounded.

Bishop was arrested as she left the building. A 9 mm handgun was found inside, on the second floor.

In the wake of the shootings, information came to light about previous run-ins with the law Bishop had. She faced criminal charges after an altercation at a Massachusetts restaurant nearly eight years ago, police said.

The police report says Bishop became furious that there was no booster seat available for her child, began screaming at the woman who had taken the last one and struck her in the head.

Authorities in Bishop's hometown of Braintree, Massachusetts, are also looking into the shooting death of her brother, Seth, in 1986. Bishop, then 20, said she accidentally shot her brother in the family's kitchen as she was trying to unload a shotgun, according to police reports.

The district attorney at the time regarded the death as accidental and declined to press charges. However, after the school shootings, the current district attorney in Braintree ordered a judge's inquest to re-examine the incident and determine whether charges are warranted.

In addition, The Boston Globe has also reported that Bishop and her husband, Jim Anderson, were questioned in the 1993 attempted mail bombing of a Harvard Medical School professor.

Under Alabama law, Bishop could face the death penalty if she is convicted of capital murder.

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