Kelvin Atkins was found guilty of second-degree murder in the 2023 shooting death of Johnshane Powell after a retrial.
NEW ORLEANS, LA — A New Orleans man has been convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend two days after she reported him for domestic abuse and theft, ending a murder retrial centered on surveillance video, cellphone records, witness accounts and the victim’s identification of her attacker.
A jury found Kelvin Atkins guilty Sept. 18 of second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in the July 3, 2023, death of Johnshane Powell, according to the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office. Powell, a mother of two, was shot in the 2400 block of New Orleans Street. Atkins remains in custody and is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 6.
The killing followed a series of domestic violence reports involving Powell and Atkins. Prosecutors said Powell reported on July 1, 2023, that Atkins had assaulted her and stolen her firearm. Police arrested Atkins after that report. Two days later, Powell was fatally shot. The District Attorney’s Office said trial evidence showed she was shot 19 times.
Prosecutors said investigators used surveillance footage, cellphone records and witness accounts to challenge Atkins’ claim that he was in Slidell on the night Powell was killed. The District Attorney’s Office also said footage from a police officer’s body-worn camera captured Powell identifying Atkins as the person who shot her. The evidence became part of the prosecution’s case at trial.
The criminal case against Atkins developed over several years. Court records show that a grand jury indictment filed in January 2024 charged him with second-degree murder, domestic abuse battery and other offenses, including firearm, theft, obstruction of justice and protective-order counts. Atkins pleaded not guilty after the indictment. His case later produced an appellate dispute over statements he made to police during the homicide investigation.
In May 2025, the Louisiana 4th Circuit Court of Appeal reviewed a trial judge’s decision to suppress part of Atkins’ statements. The appeals court reversed the portion of the ruling that had excluded some of those statements. The appellate record also documented an earlier domestic incident involving Powell and Atkins and described police body-camera footage from the July 1 response.
Powell’s death drew attention well before the murder case reached a verdict. In 2023, her grandmother, Sylvia Holmes, publicly questioned how authorities handled the domestic violence complaints that preceded the killing. Earlier reporting showed Powell had contacted police about Atkins before her death, including a June 23 report and the July 1 incident that resulted in his arrest.
The case also became part of a wider local discussion about Louisiana’s Gwen’s Law, which provides a process for additional bail review in certain domestic violence, stalking, protective-order and related cases. A 2023 New Orleans Health Department report examined how often the procedure was being used in Orleans and Jefferson parishes. Powell’s family raised questions about the handling of her case after Atkins was released following his July 1 arrest.
Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams discussed Powell’s case after the guilty verdict, describing her as a domestic violence survivor who had sought help from authorities. At a Sept. 23 news conference addressing several recent convictions, Williams said victims and their families remained at the center of the cases prosecuted by his office. Powell left behind two daughters.
Atkins remains jailed awaiting sentencing. Second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole under Louisiana law, according to reporting on the verdict. His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 6, marking the next court proceeding following the jury’s guilty verdict.
Author note: Last updated September 29, 2026.