RUSSELLVILLE – With her convicted killer set to serve a life sentence, Lexus Bell can finally rest in peace, her stepfather said Thursday.

Nearly six years after Bell was gunned down inside her Russellville apartment, Demetrius Roberson was formally sentenced in Logan Circuit Court, having been found guilty by a jury of murder, attempted murder, first-degree robbery and nine counts of first-degree wanton endangerment.

Roberson, 28, was convicted in November of crimes that arose from an Aug. 21, 2016, home invasion.

Roberson entered the apartment with the intention to steal money, marijuana and firearms that he believed were being hidden there by one of the residents, Zac Mordica, authorities said.

A total of 11 shots were fired during the incident at Robinwood Apartments on Highland Lick Road and Bell, 21, was struck fatally while holding her child, who had just turned 1 year old.

When the shooting occurred, the apartment was occupied by nine children who were there to spend the night before traveling to a birthday party for her son planned for the following day in Bowling Green.

Roberson was said to have threatened Bell in an attempt to find the items before firing shots in all directions, and then as he exited the apartment fired at Estoria Mordica as she huddled with her children.

At the end of an emotional sentencing hearing, Roberson was sentenced to life without a chance at parole for at least 25 years by Logan Circuit Judge Joe Hendricks.

Kevin Morrow, Bell’s stepfather, spoke in court of the impact Bell’s death has had on her family.

“This ordeal here has sent this entire family through terrible times,” Morrow said.

Given a chance to speak in court, Morrow addressed Roberson directly for most of his remarks, standing at a podium as his wife sat at the prosecutor’s table next to him.

“What I keep hearing in this case is that (Roberson) is not going to see his daughter, (my wife) is not going to see her daughter at all,” Morrow said. “You can sit behind the plexiglass and talk to your daughter on the phone, heaven ain’t got no phone.”

Morrow said that with Roberson’s sentencing, Bell can now rest in peace.

“I can look at you … you’re a straight coward, to stand behind a gun for nothing,” Morrow said. “All you did … was hurt two families, you hurt your family, too.”

Roberson’s attorney, Michael Goodwin, argued for a 70-year sentence for Roberson, which would have made him eligible for parole after serving 20 years.

Goodwin said that while the jury recommended life without parole for 25 years when it convicted Roberson on the murder charge, it also called for Roberson to serve 70 years on all the counts for which it found him guilty.

Goodwin also argued that evidence showed Roberson had mild mental impairments that left him less socially and emotionally mature than his peers and rendered him subject to the manipulations of others.

Logan County Commonwealth’s Attorney Neil Kerr argued that the jury’s verdict clearly intended for Roberson to serve a life sentence, and that his actions did not entitle him to a consideration of mercy.

“I don’t know how many times in here we have had someone come through who was capable of a massacre,” Kerr said. “When he walked in (Bell’s apartment) and perceived the situation, he didn’t do anything to mitigate the risk … it’s a miracle that we’re only talking about one soul lost, and that’s one too many.”

As Kerr spoke about the 11 shots fired in the apartment, some fired at children who were running to hide, some murmurings rose up from a group of Roberson’s relatives, and Kerr snapped at the group to stop talking.

Hendricks admonished the members of Roberson’s family to remain quiet at the risk of sanctions from the court, and Kerr apologized before continuing his argument, saying that Roberson showed no remorse for his actions.

“The thought of someone capable of firing at children in an apartment, I can’t wrap my mind around it,” Kerr said.

Asked by Hendricks whether he wanted to say anything at his sentencing, Roberson simply said “no.”

In pronouncing the life sentence, Hendricks said the evidence showed Roberson’s actions demonstrated an indifference to the lives of the people in the apartment.

“I know a lot of people with below-average intelligence who are very warm, kind and empathetic,” Hendricks said. “They may not make the best decisions, but they would not maliciously and intentionally harm anyone.”

The case had a winding history through the court system.

About a year after the shooting, indictments were returned against Roberson and five other people for murder and various other offenses following an investigation by the Russellville Police Department.

Charges were ultimately dropped against one defendant, while four others pleaded guilty to several crimes.

One of the co-defendants, Tayveon Bibb, pleaded guilty to a count of first-degree robbery by facilitation and received a five-year sentence.

As a condition of his plea agreement, Bibb gave a deposition in which he testified that he had traveled with Roberson and others to Bell’s apartment, but waited in the car while the robbery occurred.

Bibb testified to hearing gunshots and that the robbers returned to the car with a rifle that had been taken from the apartment.

The group then drove to Franklin, with Bibb saying he was familiar with the back roads they could take in an effort to avoid detection.

Bibb said Roberson admitted some time after the drive away from the scene to shooting someone in the apartment.

Before Roberson went to trial, Bibb was himself shot and killed in January 2021 in Bowling Green.

Roberson’s case was originally set to go to trial in 2019, but a breakdown in his relationship with his court-appointed attorneys occurred, and they were ordered off the case by then-Circuit Judge Tyler Gill on the day the trial was to begin, when they announced they were not ready to proceed.

Another team of public defenders was appointed to represent Roberson, who initially faced the death penalty if he had been convicted as charged.

Five months before his case went to trial, Roberson dismissed his court-appointed lawyers and hired attorney Goodwin to represent him.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused further delays to Roberson’s case, with most court proceedings curtailed in efforts to avoid spreading the virus.

In court Thursday, Hendricks said Goodwin did an “admirable job” representing Roberson.

“A lot of things happened in this case that made it extremely difficult to get to trial,” said Hendricks, who joined the case in 2019 after being elected circuit judge to replace Gill, who retired. “The system is not designed to be efficient, it’s designed to be difficult to put somebody in prison … we had a lot of hiccups along the way and a lot of challenges, but the system worked.”

By the time the trial began in November, the death penalty was no longer being considered, having been removed as an option by Kerr, who concluded that a jury would not return a death sentence after considering Bibb’s testimony, which had altered the prosecution’s theory of what occurred.

Kerr’s predecessor, Justin Crocker, had filed notice of intent to seek the death penalty, but was defeated by Kerr for election to commonwealth’s attorney in 2018.

While no longer pursuing the death penalty, Kerr sought other enhanced penalties against Roberson that included life without parole.

By Thursday’s sentencing, a different prosecutor, defense attorney and judge were involved compared to Roberson’s arraignment in 2017.