Shooter of Denver guitarist convicted of second-degree murder

The man who shot and killed a beloved Denver guitarist will finally go to prison after nearly six years.

A Denver District jury found 48-year-old Patrick Lee Apostol guilty of second-degree murder in connection with the 2020 death of Zackary Smith, a 34-year-old guitarist for the band Autonomix, on Thursday after a nearly two-week-long trial.

Apostol appeared next to his defense attorney, Zoe Bernstein, and stared ahead as Judge Nikea Bland read the verdict. Due to the conviction, Apostol will receive a max sentence of 48 years in prison. He was also found guilty of tampering with evidence.

The defendant was initially charged with first-degree murder, but the jury did not believe there was enough evidence to prove Apostol deliberated before the shooting.

The trial stems back to a nearly three-year cold case and a previous sentence by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, leading to a long string of court filings and heartache from the victim’s family and friends.

The case

Apostol is the half-brother of Grammy Award-winning bluegrass artist Billy Strings, whose real name is William Lee Apostol. But, following the defendant’s arrest, Strings came out to say he rarely interacted with Apostol throughout his life and condemned Smith’s murder. On the other hand, Apostol mentioned his brother’s music success throughout the court process, often blaming his lavish lifestyle on String’s handouts, not his past conviction for drug dealing.

Regardless, Patrick Apostol was arrested by the Denver Police Department in November 2023 in connection with the Sept 10, 2020, death of Smith.

Smith was shot and killed in his car near the intersection of East 17th Avenue and Quince Street, right outside of Apostol’s house. When investigators asked for Apostol’s security camera footage to help look into the shooting, he claimed it was broken.

Through investigations, police found that Smith had been in a relationship with Apostol’s then-girlfriend, Mina Darnell-Strong, for eight months and was at Apostol’s house to meet with her while Apostol was asleep. During the trial, the defense argued that Apostol was unaware of the affair, while the Denver District Attorney’s Office claimed that the murder was based in anger due to Darnell-Strong’s cheating.

Apostol and Darnell-Strong still got married after the murder.

During a search warrant of Apostol’s home, police found over 10 illegal firearms, a shed used for extracting marijuana and the robe Apostol was wearing the night of the shooting. Gunshot residue was later found on that robe and bullet fragments in Smith’s vehicle matched Apostol’s white handgun.

The marijuana extraction lab inspired a federal investigation and Apostol’s eventual arrest in a separate case. He pleaded guilty to a charge of intent to distribute and was sentenced in June 2022 to 30 months in prison, serving 14 before being released — and then later arrested for murder.

Darnell-Strong was also initially charged in the drug distribution case, but the charges were dropped after she agreed to testify against Apostol in the murder case, according to Bernstein’s opening statements back on June 3.

The arguments

Throughout the trial, Apostol’s attorneys claimed self-defense, not undermining his drug-dealing lifestyle prior to the shooting.

Bernstein claimed that Apostol was walking out of the house to perform a drug deal with a different vehicle. When he saw Smith’s SUV leaving the alleyway, he panicked, firing off a shot from his handgun.

“He doesn’t even fire a second shot,” Bernstein said during opening arguments. “He has no clue if he hit the car. He knows he has a bunch of illegal drugs in the garage, and he is associated with people who just scared the heck out of him the night before.”

The prosecution, on the other hand, argued that Apostol was aware of the affair and acted out of jealous revenge, with his wife testifying against him during the trial.

The security camera was another smoking gun in the case, with Apostol claiming it was offline, despite Ring telling investigators that footage was likely deleted from the device.

After a full day of deliberating, the jury agreed, convicting Apostol after nearly six years of waiting.

Apostol will be sentenced on Sept. 14.