The state Board of Pardons has told Douglas Dean Bishop he is being punished for his own crimes, not for the sex-slayings of his executed elder brother, Arthur Bishop.
"I know you feel persecuted because you are the brother of Arthur," board member Michael Sibbett told Bishop at a hearing. "One of the big things you have to realize is that it was your own actions, which stood in and of themselves to justify life in prison."Douglas Bishop told the parole board he sexually molested 26 victims - boys 5 to 17 years old - between 1976 and 1983.
"The age and vulnerability of your victims is a terribly aggravating factor," Sibbett said Friday.
Douglas, 31, is serving four five-years-to-life terms for sexually abusing three boys under the ages of 14. He is also serving time for a 1988 escape from the Rich County Jail.
Arthur Bishop, 36, was executed June 10, 1988, by lethal injection for kidnapping, sexually molesting and killing five Utah boys.
In 1983, the brothers were arrested within three days of each other. But Douglas Bishop said he was not aware of his brother's crimes until learning Arthur had been arrested.
"He was seven, eight years older. We were not that close," Douglas Bishop said.
Douglas Bishop, like Arthur diagnosed as a homosexual pedophile, is the eighth of nine children. He maintains there was never any sexual abuse from family members in their Hinckley, Millard County, home.
Douglas Bishop has served eight years and has hopes of getting out soon. Parole guidelines suggest he should serve at least 13 years.
"I was hoping to ask the board to allow me while I'm still at a young age for a fairly close (parole) date to get back out and try to make a life for myself," Bishop told the board.
"I'm doing now what I need to ensure I have no more victims," he added, referring to sex-offender therapy he is receiving in prison.
Sibbett scheduled a rehearing in February 1994, telling Bishop his progress during the next two years will weigh heavily with the board.
"(Therapy) is the one mitigating factor we have to look at a date," Sibbett said.
Douglas Bishop was convicted of three counts of sodomy on a child and one count of forcible sodomy, stemming from incidents in Millard and Utah counties involving three boys. Bishop was 23 at the time.
In addition to the sex counts, Bishop is serving two one- to 15-year terms for escape from custody and auto theft, and zero to five years for the escape in February 1988 from the Rich County Jail.
Bishop broke down a door and stole a pickup truck but was captured the next day in Colorado when he rolled the truck while fleeing from police.