A D.C. man became a lawyer and Georgetown Law professor after serving more than a decade in federal prison for bank robbery. But he’s been convicted in a new case involving domestic violence against his wife, authorities said Friday.
Shon Hopwood, 50, was found guilty Friday on three counts of simple assault, five counts of contempt and two counts of obstructing justice, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
“A D.C. jury is demanding accountability from the batterer who not only beat his wife but was on the faculty of Georgetown Law teaching criminal law,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said in the release. “This D.C. jury wasn’t afraid to demand accountability no matter who the defendant is.”
Georgetown Law professor forced wife to stay in basement for three days, then pressured to her not to testify, prosecutors say
Prosecutors say Hopwood assaulted his wife, leaving her with multiple injuries, and then forced her to stay in their basement for three days after the September 2023 attack. He coached their children to lie about her whereabouts, prosecutors said.
After police found his wife during a welfare check, they learned of “chronic emotional and physical domestic abuse to his wife stretching back several years,” prosecutors said. Due to that investigation, Hopwood also was charged with assaulting her in April 2023 in addition to the latter incident.
Although Hopwood’s trial was supposed to begin in early June, the victim and her daughter failed to appear in court despite a subpoena. Authorities say they learned Hopwood had pressured his wife not to testify in his trial, violating a stay-away order
