San Antonio man sentenced to 20 years for murder of Shawana Robinson
Handcuffs and a gavel in a courtroom.
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A San Antonio man has been sentenced to decades of prison time after a stray bullet fired by him struck and killed a woman in 2019. Amir Powell was sentenced on Monday, March 20, to 20 years in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Shawana Robinson, according to a news release issued by the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office.
Powell was arguing with his girlfriend at a Northside apartment complex on July 25, 2019, when he fired three shots into the wall of his apartment. One of those bullets struck Robinson while she was relaxing on a couch in her cousin’s apartment. She was transported to University Hospital that night where she later died. It was Robinson’s birthday.
District Attorney Joe Gonzales says in the news release that a case where someone doesn’t intentionally kill someone usually leads to a manslaughter charge and possible conviction. That was not the case for Powell, who also didn’t have a prior criminal record, according to the news release.
“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 news release states. “Shawana’s life was worth more than potential probation.”
The news release says that the judge, prosecutor, and the defense attorney all agreed the sentence “serves the best interests of justice.”
