JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — The prosecution and defense presented closing arguments Thursday morning in the trial of one of three defendants accused in the 2023 rock-throwing case that killed 20-year-old Alexa Bartell.
She died on April 19, 2023 after a large landscaping rock crashed through her windshield as she was driving northbound on Indiana Street, just south of State Highway 128, in Jefferson County. About a week afterward, three suspects were arrested. They were also accused of throwing rocks at multiple other cars.
All three defendants were 18 years old at the time. The men were all charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, second-degree assault and attempted second-degree assault in connection with the 2023 death of Bartell.
Two of the men took plea deals. Zachary Kwak pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree assault (causing injury with a deadly weapon) and criminal attempt to commit second-degree assault. Nicholas Karol-Chik pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and a crime of violence sentence enhancer added to the second-degree murder charge. All other charges against those two men were dropped.
The third man — Joseph Koenig — pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, as well as multiple counts of attempted first-degree murder, second-degree assault and attempted second-degree assault in April 2024.
In his trial Thursday, the judge gave the jury instructions for the decision-making process in this case and once closing arguments wrapped, the jurors were dismissed to consider the 19 charges against Koenig.
Read our previous coverage of the trial in the stories below
- Trial begins for Joseph Koenig, accused in Jeffco rock-throwing incident that killed Alexa Bartell
- Opening statements begin for trial of suspect in Jeffco rock-throwing incident that killed Alexa Bartell
- Prosecution expected to rest its case in Alexa Bartell murder trial by end of week
- Rock-throwing case: Co-defendant testifies against Joseph Koenig in Jeffco murder trial of Alexa Bartell
- Second co-defendant testifies against close friend on trial for murder of Alexa Bartell in Jeffco
- Jeffco rock-throwing case: Joseph Koenig declines to testify in his trial for Alexa Bartell's death
During closing arguments Thursday, the prosecution asked the jury to convict Koenig of all 19 counts, focusing in on the charge of first-degree murder. The defense maintains the jury should convict Koenig, but for manslaughter and attempted manslaughter.
The defense and prosecution both used Dr. Alexandra Lynch and Dr. Laurence Steinburg's testimonies in their closing arguments, but for different purposes.
The prosecution pointed to acknowledgment from Dr. Steinburg that an adolescent has similar decision making abilities as an adult, that they're as knowledgeable about the dangers associated with various actions. The prosecution also pointed to Dr. Lynch's opinion that Koenig's ADHD symptoms are minimal when he's receiving rewards for interesting activities, which the People argued was the case for Koenig when he was throwing rocks at cars in 2023.
"If only he lost the rocks, if only he got sidetracked while he was driving, if only he couldn’t follow the assignment, if only he would’ve avoided or disinclined toward or couldn’t focus on it, if only every one of his ADHD symptoms would’ve been present, Alexa Bartell would be alive," the prosecution said.
However, the defense drew upon Dr. Lynch's assessment that Koenig's borderline personality disorder was affecting his judgment.
The defense acknowledged that Koenig cheering after hitting Bartell's car was awful and was hard for the jury and Bartell's mother to hear, but he called upon the judge's instructions to the jury — "set aside your sympathy and your rage about what happened. Your job is to determine what the evidence is here."
Koenig's lawyer disputed the prosecution using Karol-Chik's initial interview after Bartell's death, saying the three men were targeting people as evidence. The defense redirected the jury to the consistency of all three men — after that first interview — insisting they never meant to hurt anyone. The defense recalled a conversation during jury selection about how not all homicides are the same, emphasizing that Koenig consciously disregarded a substantial risk in this case, but that is consistent with manslaughter.
During rebuttal, the prosecution also pointed to the differences in homicide cases. However, the People made a case for Koenig having coordinated the rock throwing with Karol-Chik on multiple occasions and coordinated plans to blame Kwak for throwing the rock that killed Bartell.
The prosecution also called upon the judge's instructions to the jury — that jurors could use both direct and circumstantial evidence to come to a verdict, saying Koenig didn't have to make a direct statement for the jury to determine his state of mind in this case. While the People said Koenig did not engage in premeditated murder after deliberation, the argument is he knew how much damage he could cause based on the multiple occasions Koenig and Karol-Chik had thrown rocks together and coordinated doing so after the first incident.
Koenig's defense countered that point with how the three men stopped immediately after Bartell's death.
