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Patrick Lee Apostol claims he acted out of fear when he shot a local musician back in 2020.
The murder trial of 48-year-old Apostol began on June 1 after three long years of legal back and forth, with opening statements kicking off on Tuesday morning, June 2.
Apostol appeared in front of a filled courtroom at the Denver District courthouse, donning a gray suit and watching intently as his defense attorney, Zoe Bernstein, addressed the court. Bernstein never denied that Apostol did, in fact, shoot and kill Zackary Smith, a 34-year-old guitarist for the band Autonomix, on Sept. 10, 2020. Instead, Bernstein said that the death was entirely unintentional and that Apostol was shooting out of fear.
The prosecution, led by Denver District Attorney’s Office deputies Zach McCabe and Borna Kazerooni, painted the picture of a lover’s revenge, claiming that Apostol murdered Smith due to the victim’s affair with Apostol’s girlfriend and now wife, Mina Darnell-Strong.
Prosecutors claim that the defendant used special ammo to help his aim and had a “perfect headshot” when killing the guitarist. The defense disagrees with that version of events, however, ultimately asking for a conviction less than first-degree murder.
“This isn’t a whodunit,” Bernstein told the jury and Judge Nikea Bland. “The prosecution has amped up the drama of this story to distract you from a fundamental flaw in their theory, which is that Mr. Apostol did not know about the affair until after Mr. Smith was killed.”
The case
Apostol is the half-brother of Grammy Award-winning bluegrass artist Billy Strings, whose real name is William Lee Apostol. Strings says he rarely interacted with Apostol throughout his life, and has condemned Smith’s murder. According to court documents, Apostol mentioned his brother’s music success throughout the court process.
Apostol was arrested by the Denver Police Department back in November 2023. He was then charged with first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence in correlation with the 2020 death of Smith.
Police initially arrived at the intersection of East 17th Avenue and Quince Street, right outside of Apostol’s house, after receiving reports of shots fired. Smith’s vehicle was found flipped over, and he had a shot to the back of the head, eventually leading to his death at a nearby hospital.
Through investigations, police found that Smith had been in a relationship with Darnell-Strong for eight months and was at Apostol’s house to meet with her while Apostol was asleep — something the prosecution points to as to why the defendant would deliberate a murder.
Smith’s best friend took the stand following opening statements and said he had heard about Darnell-Strong and had met her once, but was unaware of the depth of her relationship with Smith.
Apostol’s attorney claims the suspect didn’t know about the affair until after the shooting.
Police executed a search warrant at the home and 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 by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and eventually led to Apostol’s 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.
Drug dealing past
In opening statements, the defense did not shy away from Apostol’s history of dealing drugs, instead using it as a reason for the paranoia-led shooting.
Bernstein claims that Apostol waiting for a drug dealer to arrive the night of the shooting. When he went outside to meet him, he saw an extra vehicle moving through the alley. The vehicle, later found to be Smith’s, allegedly hit Apostol when leaving the alley, causing the defendant to fire.
Apostol then ran back inside and did not try to clean up the scene, according to the defense.
“He doesn’t even fire a second shot,” Bernstein said. “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 points to security camera footage from Apostol’s porch that he allegedly erased after the incident, potentially showing that he knew he hit and killed Smith.
Ultimately, the defense claims that Darnell-Strong will be the prosecution’s main witness in pointing the finger at Apostol. But Bernstein asked why Darnell-Strong didn’t rat out Apostol in the years after. In fact, they got married after the shooting.
To the defense, the answer lies in Darnell-Strong’s arrest in 2023 regarding the same drug-dealing charges as Apostol. Bernstein says that Apostol’s wife agreed to testify against him regarding the murder to get her drug charges dropped.
The prosecution says that Darnell-Strong was afraid of Apostol, which kept her from snitching on him for years. She is expected to testify at some point during the two-week trial.
