Heather Cook, charged with manslaughter after she killed a cyclist in an accident last year, has resigned as a bishop of The Episcopal Church and has also been deposed from her orders.

The Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said in a statement that Cook can no longer function as an ordained person in The Episcopal Church.

Cook, who killed Tom Palermo in Baltimore on December 27, had a long-standing alcohol problem including a previous conviction for drink driving. She was even suspected of being drunk at her own consecration.

After the accident she was charged with automobile manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, failing to remain at the scene of the accident, driving while under the influence of alcohol and texting while driving during an accident that results in death or serious bodily injury.

Bishop Schori's office said she and Cook had reached an accord under which she had received a "sentence of deposition" following which which she shall be "deprived of the right to exercise the gifts and spiritual authority of God's word and sacraments conferred at ordination".

The accord is separate from criminal matters pending in the secular courts.

She had previously been placed under a restriction notice, partly due to "misrepresentations you allegedly made to persons in the Diocese of Easton and in connection to your candidacy for the episcopate in the Diocese of Maryland regarding your experience with alcohol".

After she was charged, Cook was released on bail and began in-patient treatment for alcohol dependency.