Sexual predator Arthur Gary Bishop declaration

Bishop was brought to trial on February 27, 1984.^[2] During his trial, Bishop claimed that an addiction to child pornography molded his violent sexual fantasies and eventually drove him to act them out. The trial lasted three weeks; on March 19, 1984,^[3] Bishop was found guilty of five counts of aggravated murder, five counts of aggravated kidnapping, and one count of sexually abusing a minor, and sentenced to death. Upon receiving his sentence, Bishop apologized to his victims' families^[4] and made a request to be executed by lethal injection.

After his conviction, he wrote a letter in which he explained the motivation for his crimes:

I am a homosexual pedophile convicted of murder, and pornography was a determining factor in my downfall. Somehow I became sexually attracted to young boys and I would fantasize about them naked. Certain bookstores offered sex education, photographic, or art books which occasionally contained pictures of nude boys. I purchased such books and used them to enhance my masturbatory fantasies... Finding and procuring sexually arousing materials became an obsession. For me, seeing pornography was lighting a fuse on a stick of dynamite. I became stimulated and had to gratify my urges or explode. All boys became mere sexual objects. My conscience was desensitized and my sexual appetite entirely controlled my actions.

Bishop was executed by lethal injection at Utah State Prison in Point of the Mountain on June 10, 1988. Prior to his execution, he again expressed remorse for his crimes.^[5]