Zackary Carl Helwagen appears in Jackson County Circuit Court Nov. 13. 

A Williams man was acquitted of murder charges in the 2022 stabbing death of 31-year-old Brittany Laine Lovrovich outside Rumors Karaoke Lounge, but he will serve prison time after pleading guilty to a Measure 11 robbery charge linked to the drug crime.

Zackary Carl Helwagen, 33, was sentenced Friday to seven years and six months in Oregon Department of Corrections custody after pleading guilty to a count of first-degree robbery, admitting to his role in stealing fentanyl during a March 22, 2022, robbery that culminated in Lovrovich getting stabbed to death between the karaoke bar and the OK Market on Riverside Avenue.

Codefendant Hannah Marie Martin was sentenced to a mandatory 25 years to life in June after a jury found her guilty of second-degree murder in Lovrovich’s homicide. The jury acquitted Martin on a robbery charge in the crime, according to an earlier news report.

Helwagen stood trial for five days last week on two counts of second-degree murder — each count based on separate legal arguments — along with the second-degree robbery charge.

Judge Laura Cromwell acquitted Helwagen last week on one of the two second-degree murder charges, the one that argued Helwagen, along with Martin, “unlawfully and intentionally” caused Lovrovich’s death.

The jury deliberated over a second-degree murder charge that argued Helwagen helped cause the death of Lovrovich while committing first-degree robbery, as well as the separate first-degree robbery charge to which Helwagen ultimately pleaded guilty.

The trial ended in a hung jury, according to an email from Jackson County District Attorney Beth Heckert. Helwagen opted to plead guilty to the robbery charge and the second murder charge was dismissed.

Robbery in the first degree is a Measure 11 crime that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 90 months in prison under Oregon law. As such, Helwagen will not be eligible for early release due to good behavior and must serve the entire sentence in prison.