A Troutdale man is serving a 25-year prison sentence slightly more than one year for every sex crime a judge found him guilty of for repeatedly raping a female relative starting when she was 8 years old.
At the end of his three-day trial, James Kevin Bishop, 38, was found guilty of 24 counts, each representing a separate incident in which he violated the victim, who reported the abuse to a school counselor when she was 14, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Charlene Woods, who prosecuted the case.
Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Stephen Bushong found Bishop guilty of 11 counts of first-degree rape, five counts of first-degree sodomy and eight counts of first-degree sex abuse all of which are Measure 11 offenses punishable by mandatory minimum sentences.
The offenses also are punishable under Oregons Jessicas Law, which took effect in 2006 and requires a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison for adults who commit any first-degree sex related offenses against children younger than 12.
Portland police arrested Bishop one day before his birthday in late January 2012, after the victims friends urged her to report the abuse. She told an adult about it when she was 8, but when confronted by an adult, Bishop denied any misconduct, Woods said.
He also denied any sexual abuse when police arrested him.
Another factor that caused the girl to come forward: Her younger sister was turning 8, the same age the victim was when the abuse began.
Bishop is appealing his conviction, which Woods said is common practice in such cases.