Shawn Moody McDonald

McDonald began his legal career in 2001 as a felony trial prosecutor in Henderson County where he prosecuted thousands of felony cases ranging from capital murder to minor felony drug cases. McDonald tried well over fifty (50) felony cases sitting as a first chair in his first 3 1/2 years, led the fight against eradicating and prosecuting methamphetamine labs (Henderson County was widely regarded as the meth capital of the world during his time in East Texas), created course material and taught at multiple law enforcement departments and countless officers, trained incoming assistant district attorneys, and served as the law enforcement liaison to the multi-jurisdictional drug task force. McDonald prosecuted countless crimes against children and received an award from CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) for the outstanding commitment to the successful prosecution of sex crimes against children.

In 2004, McDonald moved closer to home and began prosecuting felony cases in the Fort Bend District Attorney’s Office, which included prosecuting felony crimes in the 400th Dsitrict Court and being an instructor at the Fort Bend County Gus George Law Enforcement Academy as well as teaching at many local police departments.

In 2006, McDonald opened his own Criminal Trial Practice focusing solely on representing clients who have been charged with criminal offenses throughout the great State of Texas. In 2010 McDonald became Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He was the youngest attorney in the history of Fort Bend County to attain this level of expertise. Substantially less than 1% of attorneys in the State of Texas are Board Certified in Criminal Law. McDonald currently holds that certification and has maintained it continuously since 2010. He can advertise and represent to clients that he is a criminal law expert. He has served on countless panels and symposiums as a criminal law expert throughout the State.

In addition to extensive criminal trial experience, McDonald also has substantial teaching experience. He was a law school professor teaching criminal trial simulation and criminal law at Thurgood Marshall School of Law where he had the opportunity to mentor and teach hundreds of law students. He was the supervising attorney of the Criminal Trial Clinic in which he supervised and led a team of law students as they defended clients charged with criminal offenses in the State of Texas. McDonald also created the nationally recognized Innocence Project at Thurgood Marshall and was the director of that project for two (2) years. McDonald is currently an adjunct professor of government at Houston Baptist University

McDonald has extensive appellate experience as both a prosecutor and as a defense attorney. He has authored and submitted excess of twenty (20) criminal appellate briefs to the Court of Appeals throughout the State of Texas.

In 2015, McDonald was appointed as a special prosecutor on the nationally debated and highly scrutinized Sandra Bland case in which he led a team of five (5) attorneys and numerous law enforcement officers through an extensive grand jury investigation in the nationally profiled proceedings. A quick Google search will reveal a video of McDonald giving the press conference that released the results of the Grand Jury Investigation that was carried live throughout the United States and covered worldwide.

McDonald has been criminal trial attorney for Eighteen (18) years and is fast approaching one hundred (100) jury trials sitting as first chair, the vast majority of which are felony cases. McDonald has represented thousands of clients charged with criminal offenses throughout the State of Texas ranging from murder to low level drug offenses. He is licensed by the Supreme Court, is a member of the Fort Bend and Brazoria County Bar Associations, and a member of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. He has twice appeared on Fox News as a criminal law expert and has appeared on almost every major news station in the country. He has also been a frequent guest on prison radio, which is streamed to prison inmates throughout the State of Texas. Lastly, he is also a member of the Fort Bend County Crime Stoppers Board.

McDonald has extensive work as both a prosecutor, a professor, a criminal law expert, law enforcement instructor, and as a criminal trial attorney. He knows exactly how prosecutors are trained, what they look for in reviewing cases and what they will argue in court. McDonald understands precisely what it takes to fight and win against criminal charges that have been filed against our clients. McDonald knows immediately where the weak points are in the State’s case and how to exploit those weaknesses to secure the freedom of our clients.

McDonald takes pride in being an honest and ethical attorney, all the while being one who will be extremely aggressive in representing you. He will return your calls promptly, provides his cell phone number to clients and makes himself available day or night to answer any and all of your questions. In closing, he wants you to come away from this experience knowing there are truly honest lawyers out there who will treat you with respect and put your needs above their own.