Man gets 20 years for neighbor’s death
A San Antonio man whose stray bullet killed a woman in a nearby apartment when he used a gun to express anger with his girlfriend has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Amir Muhammad Rasul Powell was 25 when he was charged with murder in the death of Shawana Robinson, who was killed July 24, 2019, her 30th birthday.
San Antonio police investigators said Powell was angered by a series of text messages he found on his girlfriend’s cellphone, so he assaulted her and fired three gunshots into a wall around 9 p.m., at their North Side apartment in the 10000 block of Sahara Drive.
Powell left the apartment with his girlfriend’s car and phone, police said. Several people were in the nearby apartment with Robinson when a bullet hit her in the chest.
Robinson, a real estate agent, was taken to University Hospital in critical condition and was pronounced dead at 10:55 p.m., according to the Bexar County medical examiner.
Police were able to trace the origin of the bullets to the apartment Powell shared with his girlfriend, and she gave them a description of Powell and her vehicle.
Powell was detained a short time later after police located him nearby and recovered the handgun.
He was charged with murder and assault causing bodily injury, court records show. Powell pleaded guilty to murder as part of a plea agreement reached between prosecutors and defense attorneys March 2.
State District Judge Christine Del Prado sentenced him on Monday to 20 years in prison.
He will have to serve at least half of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.
In a statement released late Monday, the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office noted that Powell did not deliberately set out to kill Robinson but “his actions clearly resulted in her death.”
The statement said the circumstances of the case can result in a conviction for manslaughter and possible probation for a defendant with no criminal background.
“To our office in general and the prosecuting team in particular, Shawana Robinson’s death was so reckless and needless that the case deserved to be prosecuted as a murder,” the statement said. “Shawana’s life was worth more than potential probation. With a murder conviction, Mr. Powell is now guaranteed to spend time in prison in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.”
Powell, 29, has a criminal record that includes misdemeanor convictions for marijuana possession and resisting arrest. In each case, Powell satisfied his deferred adjudication sentences and completed probation in 2019, court records indicate.