Jesse Walter Bishop was born on March 1, 1933, in Glasgow, Kentucky, one of four siblings. When he was five, his parents divorced, and Bishop was sent to live with his father in East Los Angeles, California. His upbringing was marked by poverty and physical abuse; Bishop later claimed that his father beat him twice a year whether he deserved it or not.

By age 15, Bishop had joined a local street gang and committed his first armed robbery. His early criminal career was intertwined with violence and petty crime, which soon escalated into organized theft. At 17, he joined the U.S. Air Force, where he trained as a paratrooper and served during the Korean War, earning commendations for bravery but also sustaining injuries.

Following his service, Bishop became addicted to heroin. His drug use led to a dishonorable discharge after being caught in possession of narcotics. He served two years at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, before returning to civilian life, where he resumed a cycle of drug use, robberies, and violence.

Over the next two decades, Bishop’s life alternated between short periods of freedom and lengthy imprisonments. He became deeply involved in the West Coast underworld, allegedly carrying out contract killings tied to narcotics and organized crime. In interviews before his execution, Bishop claimed responsibility for 18 murders, mostly gang-related executions between 1954 and 1977. Despite the gravity of these confessions, investigators were unable to verify most of them, as Bishop refused to name accomplices or employers.

By the mid-1970s, Bishop was considered a habitual offender, in and out of California prisons for armed robbery. Despite multiple parole releases, he continued to commit crimes, living mostly as a drifter between California and Nevada.

On December 20, 1977, Jesse Walter Bishop entered the El Morocco casino on the Las Vegas Strip. He was armed with a .38-caliber revolver. Bishop approached the female cashier and demanded all the money. Two men, casino employee Larry Thompson and customer David Ballard, saw what was happening and tried to help. Bishop shot Thompson in the stomach and shot Ballard in the back as he attempted to escape.

After stealing $238, Bishop fled the casino. Thompson survived his injuries, but Ballard, who had just gotten married three hours earlier, died in the hospital on December 30.

After the shooting, Bishop drove away in a green car, which was later abandoned. He robbed another man at the Union Plaza Hotel and stole a car there. He continued to evade the police, stealing a pickup truck and taking hostages while using a gun to force another driver to take him around. Over time, he stole a total of five vehicles.

On December 22, just two days after the robbery and shooting, Bishop was captured in Boulder City, Nevada. He was found sleeping beneath a mobile home. The gun used in the murder was found with him. Even though he threatened to shoot it out with police, Bishop surrendered without a fight. He was taken back to Las Vegas to face charges for his actions.

Bishop was sentenced to death on February 10, 1978, for the murder of David Ballard. He did not want to appeal his sentence, but under Nevada law, an automatic appeal was filed. The Supreme Court of Nevada reviewed the case and maintained the death sentence in 1979. Bishop's execution was first scheduled for August 27, 1979, but was put on hold by Justice William Rehnquist. After a series of delays, his execution was rescheduled for October 22, 1979.

On that date, Bishop was taken into the Nevada gas chamber. He was secured in one of the death chairs. The execution by gas inhalation took place at 12:21 a.m. He was pronounced dead shortly after. His last meal included filet mignon and a tossed salad. Bishop was the third person executed in the U.S. since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 and the first in Nevada since 1961. He was also the last to be executed by gas chamber in Nevada, as future executions would be conducted by lethal injection.