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Three Denver teenagers They cheered on the car throwing on the cars during the night of throwing a car – until one stones collapsed through the windshield and killed a woman, leading to belief in the murder on Friday after the trio turned to each other.
The jurors declared Joseph Koenig guilty of the first -degree murder in Alex Bartell’s death on April 19, 2023, after other young men who drove with him reached a contract with the prosecutors and testified against him. Koenig, who is now 20 years old, is also convicted of Attempted murder Other less serious crimes for rocks and other cases thrown on vehicles by night Bartell has been killed in the previous weeks.
Bartel’s family and friends embraced and cried in court after the verdict.
Her mother Kelly Bartell said later that justice was done, but she had mixed feelings, expressing some sympathy for Koenig and the other two young men, who were 18 when her daughter was killed.
“It’s hard to be happy or to feel the pleasure of being served today, because I feel that one amazing life has lost, and three people are also lost and affected,” she said.
The jurors had to consider moving and a competitive version of the truth, offered by the former co -defendants during the two -week trial.
Kelly Bartell, mother Alex Bartell, who died after the rock collapsed through the windshield of her car, on Friday speaks to Jefferson Combined Court in Golden, Colorado. (AP Photo/Colleen Sredvin)
No one challenged that a 9 -pound landscape rock (4 pounds) collapsed from the Walmart parking lot collapsed through Bartell’s windshield, killing it immediately. The question is anyone threw him away. The only DNA found on the rock was Bartell, which testified from the other two, Zachary Kwak and Nicholas Karol-Chik, key to the prosecution.
Koenig’s lawyers said Kwak threw a rock in which he killed Bartel. But Kwak and Karol-Chik, whose agreements on the recognition of guilt for less charges could lead to shorter prison sentences, Koenig said. Although Karol-Chik said everyone threw around 10 rocks that evening, Kwak testified that he had not thrown away any.
The main prosecutor’s prosecutor Katharine Decker told the jurors that the damage to Bartel’s car was in line with Koeniga-which left and driving a rock, the shooting style, from the driver’s window, as witnessed by Karol-Chik. Even if the jurors were unconvinced that Koenig threw it away, she told them, they should still be guilty of first -degree murder as a conspiracy.
Koenig’s lawyers said he didn’t know anyone was injured until Bartel’s car went out of the way. They also claimed that it had a borderline personality disorder, which influenced its control and the judgment of the impulse.
Defense lawyer Martin Stuart asked the jurors to instead declare Koenig guilty of killing, the least serious accusation he was facing, saying he was consciously trying to kill. The jurors also had the opportunity to declare him guilty of murder as a conspiracy.
After seeing Bartell’s car leaving the road, three friends returned several times back, according to testimony. Kwak photographed as a memory, but no one checked the driver or called for help, according to their testimony.
Bartel’s body will not be discovered as long as her girlfriend Jenna Griggs, who was on a call with her when she cut it abruptly, found her phone on the field, testified.
The three agreed that they were not talking to anyone about what had happened, but Kwak, the latest group of friends, later told investigators that Koenig had thrown a rock. Karol-Chik, who said that Koenig was like a “brother” to him, initially pointed his finger at Kwak before changing his story and blaming Koeniga.
Karol-Chik testified that Koenig looked “excited” as they drove Bartell’s car and at one point the sound of “Whoop” was released.
“It sounded like celebrating,” said Karol-Chik, who admitted that he had put the rock next to Koenig so he could grab it and throw it away.
Koenig’s lawyers tried to doubt the reliability of other men’s accounts, but also emphasized that none of the three intended to hurt anyone. The defense refused to comment on the belief.
KWAK first made an agreement on a recognition of guilt, acknowledging guilt in May 2024 for the first instance attack. In doing so, he confessed to acting in a way that created a serious risk of death. He also pleaded guilty of the second -degree attack and tried to attack the second degree because of the rocks thrown earlier in the night. It faces between 20 and 32 years in prison, according to prosecutors.
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About a week later, Karol-Chik declared the guilty of second-degree murder and committed a A crime of violence. He also pleaded guilty of attempted first -degree murder for throwing rocks on a total of nine people that night and earlier in 2023. According to the agreement, Karol-Chik could be sent to prison at the age of 35 and 72 when he was convicted on Thursday, the day before Kwak.
Koenig will be convicted on June 3 and is facing a mandatory life mandate for condemnation of murder.
