Texas Lawyer, St. Mary's Law Professor Accused of Raping Student Reinstated After Accuser Found 'Not Credible':
A law professor and former dean of St. Mary’s University School of Law, who had been accused of sexually assaulting a law student, has been reinstated to his position at the school after being cleared in an internal Title IX investigation, according to his counsel.
Stephen M. Sheppard, 60, was reinstated following an internal investigation that determined the accuser was found to be “not credible,” his lawyers told the San Antonio Express-News on Thursday.
Sheppard is represented by Cynthia Eva Hujar Orr of Goldstein & Orr in San Antonio, who told Law.com in an email in May, “My law partner, Gerry Goldstein, and I are proud to represent Dean Sheppard and we look forward to his complete vindication upon completion of the process.”
Goldstein told Law.com on Thursday that Sheppard was exonerated unanimously based on the preponderance of the evidence in the initial Title IX hearing on Aug. 24 and Aug. 25. The case was appealed and the exoneration was upheld Sept. 21. …
Sheppard had been accused of raping a female student, then 23, in his office, according to information provided to Law.com in May by the university’s chief of police David G. Ott. …
Texas Ranger Lt. Jason Reyes referred Law.com to the Bexar County District Attorney’s office, which has been investigating the case. The DA’s Office has not responded to requests for comment left on Thursday and Friday.
Goldstein said that Sheppard has not been criminally charged nor does he expect charges to be filed. …
Sheppard began his teaching career at the University of Arkansas School of Law (Fayetteville) as a legal writing instructor in 1992 until he left to teach at the Cooley Law School in Michigan and worked as a graduate fellow at Columbia University before returning permanently to Fayetteville in 2001, where he taught international and environmental law, constitutional law, legal history and jurisprudence, property and remedies and other common law courses, according to his UA Law profile.
He began teaching at St. Mary’s Law in June, 2014, when he was hired as dean, a position he held for five year before returning to faculty in the fall of 2020, following a sabbatical, according to the San Antonio Report.
- San Antonio Express-News, St. Mary's Law Professor Reinstated After Internal Investigation Into Allegations He Sexually Assaulted Student (Oct. 6, 2023)
- San Antonio Express-News, The Professor and the ‘Prince’: How Ex-St. Mary’s Law School Dean Got Mixed Up With FBI Target (June 11, 2023)
- San Antonio Express-News, Texas Rangers Search Office of St. Mary's Law Professor and Former Dean in Sex Assault Investigation (May 11, 2023)
- Texas Lawyer, St. Mary's Law Prof. Accused of Sexually Assaulting Law Student (May 11, 2023)
