Teens’ night of rock throwing leads to murder conviction for one
GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) — Three Denver-area teens cheered each other during a night of throwing rocks at cars — until one of the rocks crashed through a windshield and killed a woman, leading to a murder conviction Friday after the trio turned on one another.
Jurors found Joseph Koenig guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Alexa Bartell in 2023, after the other young men riding with him reached deals with prosecutors and testified against him. Koenig, now 20, was also convicted of attempted murder and other less serious crimes for rocks and other objects thrown at vehicles the night Bartell was killed and in previous weeks.
Bartell’s family and friends hugged and cried in court after the verdict.
Her mother, Kelly Bartell, later said justice had been done but had mixed feelings, expressing some sympathy for Koenig and the other two young men, who were all 18 when her daughter was killed.
“It’s hard to be happy or feel satisfied that justice was served today because I feel one amazing life was lost and three others are also lost and impacted,” she said.
Jurors had to consider shifting and competing versions of the truth offered by Koenig’s former co-defendants during the two-week trial.
No one disputed that a landscaping rock taken from a Walmart parking lot crashed through the windshield of Alexa Bartell’s windshield, instantly killing her, on April 19, 2023. Her car went off the road into a field. The issue was who threw it. The only DNA found on the rock was Bartell’s, making the testimony from the other friends, Zachary Kwak and Nicholas Karol-Chik, key to the prosecution.
Lawyers for Koenig, now 20, said that Kwak threw the rock that killed Bartell. But the two friends — whose agreements to plead guilty to less serious charges could lead to shorter prison sentences — said Koenig threw it. Although Karol-Chik said they each threw about 10 rocks that night, Kwak testified that he didn’t throw any.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Katharine Decker told jurors the damage to Bartell’s car was consistent with Koenig — who is left-handed and was driving — throwing the rock, shotput-style, out the driver’s side window at Bartell’s car, as Karol-Chik testified. Even if jurors weren’t convinced Koenig threw the rock, she had urged them to still find him guilty of first-degree murder as a conspirator with his friends.
Koenig’s attorneys argued he did not know anyone had been hurt until Bartell’s car went off the road and that he had borderline personality disorder, which affected his impulse control and judgment.
Defense lawyer Martin Stuart told jurors to instead find Koenig guilty of manslaughter, the least serious charge he faced in Bartell’s death, because he didn’t knowingly try to kill her. Jurors also had the option of finding Koenig guilty of manslaughter as a conspirator.
After seeing Bartell’s car leave the road after being hit, the three friends circled back a few times to look again, according to testimony. Kwak, took a photo as a memento but no one checked on the driver or called for help, according to their testimony.
Bartell’s body would not be discovered until her girlfriend, Jenna Griggs, who was on the phone with her when the call abruptly cut out, tracked her phone to the field, she testified.
The friends agreed not to talk to anyone about what had happened. But Kwak, the newest one to the group, later told investigators that Koenig had thrown the fatal rock. Karol-Chik, who said Koenig was like a “brother” to him, pointed the finger at Kwak before changing his story and saying that Koenig had thrown the rock that killed Bartell.
Karol-Chik testified that Koenig seemed “excited” as they drove by Bartell’s car and at one point made a “whoop” sound.
“It sounded like him celebrating,” said Karol-Chik, who admitted he had placed the fatal rock next to Koenig so he could grab it and throw it as he drove.
Koenig’s lawyers tried to cast doubt on the reliability of the other men’s accounts but also stressed that none of the three had intended to hurt anyone. The defense declined to comment on the conviction.
Kwak entered into a plea deal first, pleading guilty in May 2024 to first-degree assault in Bartell’s death, acknowledging that he acted in a way that created a grave risk of death. He also pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and attempted second-degree assault for the rocks that were thrown earlier in the night. He faces between 20 and 32 years in prison, prosecutors said.
About a week later, Karol-Chik pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and committing a crime of violence. He also pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder for throwing rocks at a total of nine people that night and earlier in 2023. Under his plea agreement, Karol-Chik could be sent to prison for between 35 and 72 years when he is sentenced Thursday, a day before Kwak.
Koenig faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison for the murder conviction when he is sentenced on June 3.
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This story has been corrected to say that the rock was taken from a Walmart parking lot.
By COLLEEN SLEVIN
Associated Press
