All things considered, it’s better for Shon Hopwood to tell his story than for him to quietly go on anonymously with his now-successful life.
People need to hear about the success stories of convicts who pay their debt to society and go on to lead productive lives.
Their stories are an inspiration for those who have made criminal mistakes and are struggling to change course. Their stories are a reminder to the law-abiding not to close their minds to the possibility that a criminal can achieve rehabilitation.
In Hopwood’s case, the turnaround was so dramatic that there is talk of a movie. Currently he is holding book signings for his book “Law Man.”
As recounted in Peter Salter’s story in the Sunday Journal Star, Hopwood and an assortment of accomplices robbed five banks in small towns in Nebraska before he was arrested in Omaha.
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His crimes should not be glossed over. He brandished guns. He terrified bank employees. He stole.
That part of his life ended in 1998 with his arrest.
In prison he discovered a talent for legal work. A petition he filed for fellow inmate John Fellers was one of eight cases the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review out of 7,200 requests in 2002. Hopwood’s work impressed Seth Waxman, the former U.S. solicitor general who represented Fellers, and he provided a favorable reference that helped Hopwood get a paralegal job at Cockle Law Brief Printing Co. in Omaha.
A New York Times story published in 2010 attracted widespread interest, book offers and talk of movie deals. Besieged by phone calls, Hopwood got an agent.
Today Hopwood is married to a woman who he knew from his hometown. She began writing and visiting him in prison years before he attained celebrity. Today the married couple has a 2-year-old boy and a 10-month-old girl. Hopwood is a law student at the University of Washington on a scholarship for students committed to public interest law.
There’s little doubt that some law-abiding people may be envious of the life that Hopwood enjoys, and remain unconvinced that the time he spent behind bars was sufficient punishment.
Not all reaction to Hopwood’s life story is positive. A comment at journalstar.com complained that the story sends the wrong message that convicts can “have it all.”
In 1999 Hopwood told the sentencing judge that we would change. “We’ll know in about 13 years if you mean what you say,” U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf said.
Hopwood’s 13 years are up. He’s been favored with a few strokes of luck since then, but by all accounts he’s followed through on his promise. That’s what makes his story worth telling.
