Joseph Koenig, the last of three friends accused of throwing rocks at cars and killing a driver in Colorado, has been convicted of first-degree murder and will be facing life in prison.
The other two men involved in the fatal rock-throwing incident testified against Koenig after accepting a deal with prosecutors.
The incident, which happened on April 19, 2023, killed Alexa Bartell, a 20-year-old Colrado woman. According to the Sheriff’s Office, she was talking to a friend on the phone while driving when the rock smashed through her windshield.
Several other drivers experienced similar incidents around the same time, with most of the rocks being between 4 and 6 inches in diameter.
Bartell’s friends and family hugged each other with tears in their eyes following the verdict.
Bartell’s mother, Kelly, was relieved that justice was served but described mixed feelings regarding Koenig and the two other men, whose whose lives have also been “lost and impacted.”
During the two-week trial, jurors considered what was said by Koenig’s former co-defendants. However, none of the individuals refuted the fact that they had taken a rock from Home Depot’s landscaping department and threw it onto Bartell’s car, the impact killing her instantly.
Her vehicle immediately veered off the road into a field. Initially, officials did not know who threw the rock as the only DNA found on the rock belonged to Bartell’s.
It wasn’t until Koenig’s friends, Nicholas Karol-Chik and Zachary Kwak, gave testimonies that prosecution became possible.
Koenig, who was 18 at the time, claimed that it was Kwak who threw the landscaping rock that smashed Bartell’s windshield and killed her. But the two other friends, who took plea deals for shorter sentences, said Koenig was the one who threw it.
Katharine Decker, the Chief Deputy District Attorney, told jurors that the damage to the victim’s car was consistent with someone who had thrown the rock with their left hand – and that matched Koenig’s description. Even if they weren’t convinced, she argued that he should still be found guilty of first-degree murder for conspiring with the group.
Koenig’s attorneys argued that they did not know anyone was injured until her vehicle veered off the road. They also claimed Koenig had borderline personality disorder, which affected his judgment and impulse control.
Martin Stuart, the defense lawyer, said Koenig should be found guilty of manslaughter instead of first-degree murder as he did not purposedly try to kill her.
Once the group saw Bartell’s vehicle veer off the road, they circled back to look again. While they took a picture as a memento, no one called for help nor checked on the driver.
Bartell’s body wasn’t discovered until her girlfriend, Jenna Griggs, tracked her phone after their call was suddenly cut off.
Koenig and his friends agreed not to tell anyone about the incident. However, Kwak later told officers that Koenig had thrown the rock, killing Bartell.
