Crucial Accusation in Rock-Throwing Murder Case Tossed, Defendant's Story Changes

The murder case of Alexa Bartell, who was allegedly killed when three teens went on a rock-throwing spree in Jefferson County last year, is back in the spotlight this week following a series of new developments in court.

Defendants Zachary Kwak, Nicholas Karol-Chik and Joseph Koenig all appeared together on Tuesday morning, May 7, for a joint motions hearing as they prepare to have three separate trials this summer.

They are each charged with first-degree murder, among other offenses.

First Judicial Judge Christopher Zenisek made rulings Tuesday on a number of different motions filed by the defense teams, including one in favor of suppressing a crucial accusation made by Karol-Chik during a "proffer" interview with police in January of this year — alleging that he and Koenig had thrown rocks at vehicles before on ten separate occasions. Proffer interviews are typically arranged by a defense team when someone is trying to negotiate for a plea deal.

Zenisek ruled to suppress Karol-Chik's claim about the prior incidents, saying it would create the potential of "unfair prejudice" and "confusion" for a jury. Prosecutors had argued that Karol-Chik telling police that two of them had thrown rocks and objects at vehicles in the past would be proof that he and Koenig had a clear and direct understanding of the consequences of their actions.

"The court is not persuaded," Zenisek said. "There is not information obtained that has been proffered before the court about the individuals seeing the consequences on the prior occasions, nor prior other details that would show they were aware of the consequences of those actions. That therefore relies on an assumption by the people or by the jury to make in their analysis that they must have seen that and understood it, and therefore heighten their awareness of the potential consequences of the actions in the charged conduct."
Zenisek told prosecutors that in the absence of having this specific information about the prior rock-throwing events, the court "would have to guess at it," and that creates a "high degree of a potential of unfair prejudice" for jurors.

"Especially a vague reference to multiple prior events of which there are not very many specific facts to be known," the judge said. "Being uncharged conduct that merely references several other occasions, it could heighten a jury's fear or concern regarding, for instance, community safety, which could be a substantial impact from the evidence, leaving a jury to decide not based on the quantum of proof or evidence but on the concern overall for the safety of the community, which would be a reasonable concern to have but not a proper basis for a verdict."

However, Zenisek wound up denying the other motions, including one by Koenig's lawyers challenging the lawfulness of his arrest, which came up during an afternoon hearing on Tuesday that Koenig had separately from Kwak and Karol-Chik.

Koenig's defense team argued that any evidence obtained after he was taken into custody be tossed out because he was arrested in the doorway of his parents' home without a search warrant. Zenisek noted how officers remained outside during the arrest and Koenig wasn't placed in handcuffs until after he was ordered to come outside.

"A command to come out is not the same as an entry, even if he was in the house at the time he was commanded," the judge said.

Koenig has quickly become the main focus of the rock-throwing case after being hit with additional charges related to two incidents reported in February. The charges were filed in March and made public in April, with prosecutors getting Koenig on two more counts of attempted murder and second-degree assault.
Koenig is accused of throwing rocks at motorists in two separate incidents that occurred on February 25, 2023, in Arvada. It wasn't until after the April 19 spree that claimed Bartell's life that police found out about the other incidents, with the victims coming forward reporting similarities.

Both incidents involved a rock or "rock-type item" being thrown at oncoming vehicles, according to Jefferson County Sheriff's Office investigator and lead detective Dan Manka, who testified during Koenig's preliminary hearing Tuesday.

One of the victims, Michael Marasco, was driving with his juvenile son in the front seat of his car and his daughter and her boyfriend sitting in the back when they were allegedly targeted by Koenig, according to Manka and prosecutors.

"He described having a vehicle, as he was traveling eastbound, traveling westbound towards him," Manka said. "He observed what he described as a basketball-sized rock be thrown from the vehicle heading the opposite direction. It struck the hood of his vehicle. He observed sparks and then the rock deflected up, damaging the windshield. At which point he veered left off the roadway."

Nobody was injured, but Marasco did report that his juvenile son was "covered in broken glass" and shaken up afterward.

Zenisek wound up ruling Tuesday that there was enough probable cause to confirm the new charges against Koenig and send them to trial, despite Koenig's attorney Martin Stuart fighting to get them tossed.

"A large part of the evidence the prosecution is relying upon at this hearing to prove that Mr. Koenig was involved with these two incidences comes from the statement of Mr. Karol-Chik," Stuart argued. "And while I understand that typically the credibility of a witness at a preliminary hearing is not an issue, it is an issue if there are very unusual circumstances, such as we have here, which is...the witness the prosecution is relied upon for this evidence has said diametrically opposite things on numerous occasions to the police, has passed a polygraph saying diametrical things — opposite things — to the police."

Given the circumstance, Koenig's attorney said the court should "consider the credibility of Mr. Karol-Chik."

During his cross-examination of Manka, Stuart pointed out how Karol-Chik has now accused both Kwak and Koenig of throwing the rock that killed Bartell.
In the months before his proffer interview, Karol-Chik told police it was Kwak who threw the fatal rock — a claim he made during his first interview with investigators after his arrest. He went so far as to take a polygraph test provided by the First Judicial District Attorney's Office, and passed.

"Then you gave him another polygraph where he changed his mind and said, 'No, it was Mr. Koenig who threw the rock.' And he passed that polygraph too?" Stuart asked Manka. "Yes," Manka replied.

During redirect, prosecutor Katherine Decker brought up the fact that there were two inconclusive results in Karol-Chik's first polygraph test, with the only "non-deceptive" result being a hand score.

"So it's not accurate to say he passed that first polygraph, correct?" Decker asked Manka.

"Correct," he responded.

Koenig's first polygraph was scored once by hand and twice by computer, according to Manka. He then took a "confirmatory" polygraph with the DA's office, during which he accused Koenig of throwing the rock that killed Bartell.

"He only passed that one," Decker said during her redirect of Manka.

"Yes," replied Manka.

Decker said that during the proffer interview on January 4, Karol-Chik admitted that he had been telling his own attorneys from April of last year to December that it was Koenig who threw the rock that killed Bartell. "No deals or offers were made at that time," Decker noted after Stuart argued in court that Karol-Chik could be lying in exchange for a cushiony plea deal.

"There was nothing given in exchange for his interview?" Decker asked Manka.

"There was not," he replied.

Kwak, Karol-Chik and Koenig could all face life in prison if convicted. Karol-Chik is scheduled to be the first to go on trial, with jury selection slated to begin on June 7.

The three young men have all entered pleas of not guilty. They are accused of riding around in Karol-Chik's truck on April 19, 2023, throwing landscaping rocks at people's cars.

At least seven vehicles were targeted by the teens, who were all eighteen at the time. Bartell was killed after the trio tossed a four-to-six-inch rock through her windshield, prosecutors argue. Kwak, Koenig and Karol-Chik were said to be traveling at a speed of 80 miles per hour when they threw the rock, according to investigators.

In addition to initially accusing Kwak of throwing the rock that killed Bartell, Karol-Chik claimed during his first interview with police that Kwak was the ringleader of the group and had asked them to circle back to where Bartell's smashed-up car was so he could take a picture of the damage with his cell phone.

Kwak, meanwhile, has maintained that it was Koenig — who refused to speak with police after his arrest and has yet to publicy point a finger — who threw the deadly stone.
“I want to make it very clear that I did not kill that girl," Kwak allegedly told investigators during his interrogation. "I did not throw that rock. I don’t know what they told you. I don’t know what you think happened. I did not throw that rock."

The three defendants, who are all nineteen now, each successfully requested to have separate trials earlier this year after arguing that it would be too chaotic and confusing for jurors if they were to be tried as co-defendants. This is because the defense teams all plan to attack the credibility of the other defendants in court.

In April, Kwak's lawyers successfully filed motions to suppress statements made during his arrest on April 25, 2023, about his cell phone, claiming he made "involuntary statements" in response to police questioning him during his arrest regarding the whereabouts of his phone.

The statements, according to his attorneys, were pre-Miranda and made under duress, leading to Kwak's phone being improperly seized as a result, absent a warrant.

Kwak's trial is scheduled to begin on June 24. It's unclear whether he has pushed for a proffer interview with the DA's office.