The last of three Friends accused of killing a driver in Colorado When launching a rock through the windshield of his car, he was sentenced by first degree murder on Friday.
The teenagers led around the suburbs of Denver in 2023, throwing rocks to the cars that passed, when one hit and He killed Alexa Bartell, 20, in a crime Prosecutors classified as murder.
After Two of the defendants had tasks.The jury found the third, Joseph Koenigguilty at the end of the two -week test that the jurors had to wade through the changing and competitive versions of the truth sacrificed by the defendants. The sentence is scheduled for June 3.
Koenig, now 20 years old, insisted that another person in the rock who killed Bartell. But the two friends, whose agreements with prosecutors could lead to shorter prison sentences, Koenig said.
District attached prosecutor Katharine Decker, told the jurors that the damage to Bartell’s car was consistent with Koenig, who is left -handed and driving, throwing the rock, in the firing style, the rise of the driver’s side window.
Even if the jury members are convinced that Koenig threw the rock, she had urged them to find him guilty of first degree murder as a conspirator with their friends, who declared themselves guilty of minor charges.
The defense did not play that Koenig participated in the night of the rock launch, but said that the third defendant, Zachary Kwak, threw the fatal rock.
His lawyers argued that Koenig did not know that no one had been injured until Bartell’s car came out of the way, and that he had a borderline personality disorder, which affected his impulse of control and judgment.
One of Koenig’s lawyers, Martin Stuart, told the jury to find him guilty of Manslauhter, the least serious position he faced in Bartell’s death, because hey they don’t try to kill her. The jury members also had the option of finding Koenig guilty of involuntary homicide as a conspirator, even if they did not believe that he threw the rock.
On April 19, 2023, after seeing Bartell’s car out of the road after being beaten, the three friends turned several times to look again, according to the testimonies and researchers. One of them, kwak, He took a photo like a memoryBut nobody reviewed the driver or asked for help, according to his testimony.
Bartell’s body would not be discovered until his girlfriend, Jenna Griggs, who was talking on her phone that night when the call was sharply cut, she tracked her phone to the field, she testified. The only DNA found in the fatal rock was that of Bartell, who did the testimony of Kwak and Karol-Chik Key to the Prosecutor’s Office.
Friends agreed not to talk to anyone about what had happened. But Kwak, the newest for the group, then told the researchers that Koenig had thrown the fatal rock.
Karol-Chik, who said Koenig was like a “brother” for him, told Kwak to change his story and say that Koenig had thrown the rock that killed Bartell.
Karol-Chik, who was sitting in the passenger seat of the truck while Koenig drove, testified that Koenig seemed “excited” while driving by Bartell’s car and at one time they made a “shout” sound.
“It seemed to celebrate,” said Karol-Chik, who admitted that he had placed the fatal rock next to Koenig to be able to grab it and throw it while driving.
Koenig’s lawyers tried to question the reliability of other men’s accounts.
“You have no reason to believe me, but I have no reason to protect anyone,” Karol-Chik said about the interrogation.
Karol-Chik and Kwak contradicted each other at a key point. Karol-Chik said everyone threw around 10 rocks each of that night. Kwak said he didn’t throw any. The defense said Kwak did not say that Koenig had thrown the rock until a detective told him that someone had accused Kwak for doing so.
But in his interrogation of friends, the defense also emphasized that none of the three intended to hurt anyone.
Kwak entered a guilt agreement first, declaring guilty In May 2024, a first degree assault on Bartell’s death, recognizing that he acted in a way that created a serious risk of death.
He also declared assault in second degree and tried second degree assault by the rocks that were thrown earlier at night. He faces between 20 and 32 years in prison, prosecutors said.
Approximately a week later, Karol-Chik declared himself guilty of second degree murder and committing a crime of violence. He also declared himself guilty of an attempt at first-degree murder for throwing rocks to a total of nine people that night already of 2023. Under his guilt agreement, Karol-Chik could be in prison for Betseen 3 35 and 72 years.
