Shon Hopwood
| Shon Hopwood | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Shon Robert Hopwood June 11, 1975 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education |
Bellevue University (B.S.) University of Washington School of Law (J.D.) |
| Occupation | Appellate Lawyer at Georgetown University Law Center |
| Notable work | Petition for Writ of Certiorari in Fellers v. United States; Law Man: My Story of Robbing Banks, Winning Supreme Court Cases, and Finding Redemption |
| Partner(s) | Ann Marie Metzner Hopwood |
| Website | ShonHopwood.com |
Shon Robert Hopwood (born June 11, 1975) is an American appellate lawyer and graduate teaching fellow with Georgetown University Law Center's Appellate Litigation Clinic. Hopwood became well-known as a jailhouse lawyer who served time in prison for bank robbery. While in prison, he started spending time in the law library, and became an accomplished United States Supreme Court practitioner by the time he left in 2008.
Shon is the son of Mark Robert Hopwood and Becky Richards who raised him in a Christian home. He grew up in David City, Nebraska, approximately an hour’s drive northwest of Lincoln. Shon has four other siblings and is the eldest child. Shon excelled on standardized tests. He was a high school basketball standout, earning himself a scholarship to Midland University. After Hopwood realized he was a mediocre talent in basketball, he became disillusioned and did not go to classes.
After leaving school, Hopwood joined the United States Navy. He was stationed in the Persian Gulf. While in the Navy, he guarded U.S. warships with shoulder-mounted Stinger missiles. He almost died from acute pancreatitis in a Bahrain hospital, and was discharged from the Navy.
Hopwood plead guilty on Oct. 28, 1998, to robbing several banks in Nebraska. U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf sentenced Hopwood to 12 years, three months in prison followed by three years of supervised release and ordered $134,544 in restitution. Judge Kopf was stunned by Hopwood's later transformation and said, "my gut told me that [he] was a punk — all mouth, and very little else. My viscera was wrong." In Kopf's own opinion, "Hopwood proves that my sentencing instincts suck."
Hopwood served his prison sentence at Federal Correctional Institution, Pekin. While at Pekin, he spent five weeks in solitary confinement, and criticized the practice once he got out.
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