Kalamazoo Man Sentenced to 12-50 Years for 2005 Cold-Case Sexual Assault of a Minor

LANSING – Last week, Shawn Darnell Robinson Hopkins, 39, of Kalamazoo, was sentenced by Judge Kenneth Barnard in the 9th Circuit Court in Kalamazoo County to 12-50 years’ incarceration for two counts of First-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct for assaulting a minor in 2005, announced Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. A Kalamazoo County jury found Hopkins guilty in November of last year. 

The victim, 14 years-old at the time, reported the assault by the then-unknown man immediately in 2005. Robinson Hopkins was not identified until 2022, 17 years after the assault, via DNA evidence.  

“After so many years following this tragic assault, I hope this sentence will bring a sense of justice to the victim,” Nessel said. “Her courage to come forward and seek accountability for her abuser is truly commendable. I am, as always, thankful for the Kalamazoo SAKI unit in pursuing justice for her and many other survivors of cold-case sexual assaults.”  

“Knowing that the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor’s Office and the Office of the Attorney General were able to bring this survivor a measure of justice makes me proud of the work that we do,” said Kalamazoo County Prosecuting Attorney Jeffrey S. Getting. “This defendant will spend at least the next decade in prison for his actions. A sentence that is well deserved, and one that I hope brings the survivor peace and strength moving forward.”  

At the Wednesday sentencing, the survivor of the 2005 attack told the Court, “My childhood was stolen from me, which altered my adult life. I sometimes wonder how my life could have been had I not had such a traumatic thing happen to me. I want nothing more than to go back in time and have a healthy childhood like everyone deserves but that’s not what I was dealt in life. I’ve had nightmares for years from the assault all the way into my adulthood.” She continued, “I’m now 33 years old and the images of what happened to me as a child will never go away. I’ve been to therapy and though it’s a coping mechanism, it’s not ever going to stop me from remembering the things this man has done to me when I was only a child.” 

In closing, the survivor added, “I still need help dealing with this trauma that may never go away but I pray for my own deliverance from the pain and suffering that I’ve went through and still go through. Even though the case is over, and trial is done, and all the lawyers and jury and everyone who watched during trial gets to move on with life, this incident is something I’ll never forget.” 

This case was prosecuted by the Kalamazoo Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI), and this was their 22nd cold-case sexual assault conviction.  

The state’s SAKI was established in 2016 to investigate and prosecute sexual assaults related to previously untested sexual assault evidence kits. The SAKI project provides sexual assault victims with the opportunity to have their cases re-investigated in a comprehensive, trauma-informed manner. The Kalamazoo SAKI is a collaborative project of the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor’s Office, and the YWCA of Kalamazoo. The Kalamazoo SAKI Team is in the process of investigating more than 200 cold-case sexual assaults that occurred in Kalamazoo County between 1976 and 2015.