19 years later, a man was found guilty of raping a teenage girl at a Kalamazoo music studio

KALAMAZOO, MI – Nineteen years after sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl at a music studio, Shawn Darnell Robinson Hopkins is heading to prison.

After a week-long jury trial, Hopkins, 39, was found guilty in Kalamazoo County Circuit Court on Tuesday, Nov. 26, of two counts of first-degree sexual assault resulting in bodily injury.

Hopkins now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The victim, now 33, reported the assault to authorities the day after it occurred, but no charges had been filed in the case as of January 2023. Hopkins, of Kalamazoo, was arraigned in February 2023 and remanded to Kalamazoo County Circuit Court for trial. preliminary hearing two months later.

A DNA profile of the suspect was immediately created, but Hopkins’ identity was not confirmed until April 2022, the attorney general’s office previously said.

Hopkins was ultimately charged as part of the Kalamazoo Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, which was created in 2017 to address previously untested sexual assault kits and, when possible, provide solutions for victims.

“This case is another example of the tremendous work done on behalf of survivors of sexual assault,” Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting previously said. “No survivor should go unnoticed.

“I hope this case and others like it will bring to the attention of those who prey on other members of the community that there will be serious consequences for their actions.”

The victim testified at a preliminary hearing in April 2023 that she met Hopkins through a friend just hours before the June 17, 2005 assault.

According to authorities, she only knew him as “Chicago” – one of his many nicknames.

Hopkins, who was 21 at the time, allegedly gave the girl alcohol and marijuana. She testified that while she was under the influence of alcohol, he allegedly forced her to fall to the floor and then penetrated her.

The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety immediately took up the case, but Hopkins reportedly initially fled after learning he was a suspect.

“Bringing charges in cold sexual assault cases requires sustained courage from survivors and determination from investigative teams,” Attorney General Dana Nessel previously said. “The Kalamazoo SAKI team is among the most productive teams in the state handling cold sex crime cases, and I am grateful for their tireless work that led to these charges.”

A sentencing date in the Hopkins case was not immediately available.

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