(WND)—According to defense lawyers for three boys arrested for throwing rocks at vehicles, they were “seniors in high school with nothing else to do,” and they really didn’t mean to hurt anyone.
The result was that a teen girl died when she was hit by a rock one boy threw, and he now has been sentenced, under state guidelines, to life in prison without parole, plus 60 years, according to a report from Denver television channel 7.
It was Alexa Bartell, 20, who died in the deadly rock-throwing attack that happened on a rural road in a small area between Denver and Boulder, Colorado, in 2023.
Arrested were Joseph Koenig, now 20, Zachary Kwak and Nicholas Karol-Chik. All were 18 at the time of the attack.
All initially faced first-degree murder, attempted murder, second-degree assault and attempted second-degree assault charges for the landscaping rock that was chucked through her car windshield as she drove in Jefferson County.
Third defendant sentenced to life without parole in Colorado prison in deadly rock-throwing case https://t.co/0xyPSwIxPk
— CBSColorado (@CBSNewsColorado) June 3, 2025
Kwak and Karol-Chik reached plea agreements, with Karol-Chik getting 45 years in the Department of Corrections to be followed by eight years of parole for second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder, and Kwak getting 27 years for first-degree assault, in addition to five years for second-degree assault and a concurrent eight years for attempted second-degree assault.
They told the court Koenig was the one who threw to rock that caused Bartell’s car to crash.
“Attorneys for the three men argued that they were seniors in high school with nothing else to do and did not intend to harm anyone,” the report explained.
Koenig’s term was required by Colorado law for defendants convicted of first-degree murder.
He also faced 18 other counts, and was handed 60 years in the Department of Corrections to be served consecutively to his life sentence.
In victim statements delivered at the sentencing, the girl’s father said her dreams and goals had “all been stolen.” He said a death sentence was appropriate.
Her family and friends urged the judge to impose a maximum sentence.
“A part of me died with her that day,” explained a friend of the victim.
She had tracked Alexa and arrived at the crash scene.
“I replay opening the car door to… I beg God to get that vision out of my head,” she said.
The judge noted the horror of the situation, in that one of the paramedics to arrive on the scene “had to medically retire after the incident.”
Other statements described how friends and family members now struggle to drive down two-lane roads and encounter oncoming traffic.
“I try to position myself behind the frame of my car when passing,” a cousin said.
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