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Shon Hopwood: From Bank Robber To Lawyer
Posted on 7/8/18 at 6:29 pm
Posted on 7/8/18 at 6:29 pm
This is a story I just saw on 60 mins. It is an episode that originally aired October of last year, but just watched it for the first time.
It is a pretty impressive story.
It's relatively long so I am not going to post the whole thing. You can read it here on CBS's website.
CBSnews.com
It is a pretty impressive story.
quote:
Jailhouse lawyers are prisoners who manage to learn enough about the law while incarcerated to help themselves and other inmates with legal problems. We get letters from them every week. Tonight, we are going to introduce you to Shon Hopwood, who is arguably the most successful jailhouse lawyer ever—having had one of his cases argued before the U.S. Supreme Court while serving a 12-year sentence for armed bank robbery. Since his release he's built a resume as a legal scholar, and been published in top law journals. We met him at one of the nation's premiere law schools where he's become its newest professor -- a tale of redemption as improbable as any you're likely to hear.
It's relatively long so I am not going to post the whole thing. You can read it here on CBS's website.
CBSnews.com
13
Posted on 7/8/18 at 6:40 pm to OweO
I am bumping this thread bitches.. Because I think people should read it.
Posted on 7/8/18 at 6:43 pm to OweO
So he’s still a scum bag
Posted on 7/8/18 at 6:55 pm to OweO
What law school hired a guy who can’t possibly be a lawyer?
Posted on 7/8/18 at 6:57 pm to Tigertown in ATL
quote:
What law school hired a guy who can’t possibly be a lawyer?
Georgetown
Posted on 7/8/18 at 7:00 pm to OweO
quote:
OweO
Yeah, I watched it too. It was a pretty good story. The only thing that made me shake my head was at the end when they stated they he is a prison reform activist and he's fighting for shorter sentences for inmates. I mean, how about just don't commit the crime and get no sentence.
Posted on 7/8/18 at 7:04 pm to Tigertown in ATL
quote:
What law school hired a guy who can’t possibly be a lawyer?
Schools will take anyone's money.
Posted on 7/8/18 at 7:10 pm to RedFoxx
quote:
What law school hired a guy who can’t possibly be a lawyer
quote:
Schools will take anyone's money.
Maybe you have it backwards, the law school is paying him to teach there.
Posted on 7/8/18 at 7:14 pm to Tigertown in ATL
quote:
What law school hired a guy who can’t possibly be a lawyer?
He is a lawyer.
Posted on 7/8/18 at 7:15 pm to RedFoxx
quote:
Schools will take anyone's money.
If you would read what he accomplished while he was in jail, you will understand why they wanted him.
Posted on 7/8/18 at 7:15 pm to OweO
frick that guy
He is a bank robber
He is a bank robber
Posted on 7/8/18 at 7:21 pm to Tigertown in ATL
quote:
What law school hired a guy who can’t possibly be a lawyer?
He was a lawyer, he had finished law school and had been admitted to the bar before he started teaching at Georgetown.
Posted on 7/8/18 at 7:23 pm to OweO
Bought my dad, a retired lawyer, his book for Father's day.
I look forward to reading it after he does.
I look forward to reading it after he does.
Posted on 7/8/18 at 7:26 pm to Maytheporkbewithyou
quote:
he's fighting for shorter sentences for inmates. I mean, how about just don't commit the crime and get no sentence.
I think he is fighting for more equitable sentencing, people should be punished for their crimes, but should a person that commits a robbery or other property crime with no harm to anyone serve 75% of the sentence of someone that committed murder?
Posted on 7/8/18 at 7:26 pm to Maytheporkbewithyou
quote:
The only thing that made me shake my head was at the end when they stated they he is a prison reform activist and he's fighting for shorter sentences for inmates. I mean, how about just don't commit the crime and get no sentence
I agree with what he is doing. People who come from bad environments commit crimes, many of them do it when they are young and stupid, and they are thrown in jail for years and the tax payers are the ones footing the bill.
They learn nothing in jail, so once they are back on the street they go back to what they are doing and it is right back to jail.
I truly believe most people has a way to contribute to society, they just have to figure out what they are good at. And if the jail system can help criminals find that, then not only do you get more contributing members of society, there will be less people coming back to jail, which means less tax dollars have to be spend on housing them.
Posted on 7/8/18 at 7:27 pm to OweO
quote:most, not all, has a way to contributate
I truly believe most people has a way to contribute
Posted on 7/8/18 at 7:29 pm to OWLFAN86
If you contribute to society as much as you contribute to this board, then you should be banned from life as well.
Posted on 7/8/18 at 7:45 pm to OweO
quote:
If you would read what he accomplished while he was in jail, you will understand why they w
Fair enough, not in this case.
But there are too many people in undergrad and grad school going thousands of dollars into debt who have no business being there.
Posted on 7/8/18 at 7:54 pm to OweO
Good story, but let’s not kid ourselves. This guy is an extreme outlier when it comes to bank robbers.
But I will considering using his story to inspire others in his situation.
But I will considering using his story to inspire others in his situation.
Posted on 7/8/18 at 7:59 pm to RedFoxx
quote:
But there are too many people in undergrad and grad school going thousands of dollars into debt who have no business being there.
There is no question it is a flooded market and just being a lawyer doesn't all of a sudden make you a success story. There is a different between someone who went to Southern Law school and passed the bar on their fifth try and someone who is able to teach themselves and accomplish this without having any type of formal education in law.
quote:
Three years into his prison term he got an opportunity to show just how much he'd learned when John Fellers, a friend and fellow inmate asked Shon to appeal his drug conviction to the highest court in the land. Shon Hopwood: He came to me and said, "Would you take the case and would you file this petition to the Supreme Court?" I said, "No absolutely not." Steve Kroft: Why? Shon Hopwood: His case was very complex and I didn't think I could do it. But John was very persistent. He would spend months working day and night on the petition. It required him to master the facts of the case, understand the statutes and legal precedents, identify the errors made by lawyers and judges in the appeal process and then craft an argument in the language of the court before mailing it off to Washington. Steve Kroft: Did the Supreme Court know that the brief had been written by a prisoner? Shon Hopwood: The first hint would've been the fact that it was typed on a typewriter. I don't think law firms in 2003 were using typewriters to knock out Supreme Court briefs. Four out of nine Supreme Court justices must agree for a case to be heard. That year more than 8,000 petitions were filed, 74 were accepted, one of those was written by Shon Hopwood. Shon Hopwood: And one morning, a friend of mine came running and screaming my name "Shon, Shon, Shon." And, what he had was a copy of the USA Today and I read the article and it said the court had granted John Fellers' case.
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