A second teenage suspect pleaded guilty Wednesday to murder for his role in a series of rock-throwing attacks in Jefferson County that targeted seven drivers and killed 20-year-old Alexa Bartell last year.
Nicholas Karol-Chik, 19, could be sentenced to more than 70 years in prison after pleading guilty in the First Judicial District Court to first-degree murder, criminal attempt to commit first-degree murder and a violent crime conviction. a plea deal.
Karol-Chik's plea comes just days after one of his co-defendants, 19-year-old Zachary Kwak, pleaded guilty to assault in connection with the April 2023 attack. The third person in the car that evening, 19- year-old Joseph Koenig, will stand trial in July on charges of first-degree murder.
Kwak and Karol-Chik's plea deals “are conditioned upon their full cooperation in the prosecution of the co-defendants, which may include testifying” against Koenig, said Brionna Boatright, spokesperson for the First Judicial District Attorney's Office.
As part of Karol-Chik's plea deal Wednesday, prosecutors dismissed the original 15 charges, including multiple counts of first-degree murder and assault.
Prosecutors and the defense agreed that Karol-Chik will be sentenced to the Colorado Department of Corrections for a term between 35 and 48 years for the second-degree murder conviction. The general sentence for first-degree murder is 16 to 48 years.
He also faces an additional eight to 24 years in prison for attempted first-degree murder.
In total, the teen faces up to 72 years in prison when he is sentenced on September 10. He will not be sentenced to the Youthful Offender System — a medium-security prison in Pueblo that houses male and female offenders between the ages of 14 and 19 — First Judicial District Judge Christopher Zenisek said during Wednesday's hearing.
Bartell was killed on April 19, 2023, after a landscape rock crashed through her windshield as she drove north on Indiana Street in Jefferson County.
Three then 18-year-olds – Karol-Chik, Kwak and Joseph Koenig – were arrested and charged with throwing rocks at seven vehicles that evening, including the one that killed Bartell.
Karol-Chik, Kwak and Koenig threw rocks from Karol-Chik's moving Chevrolet Silverado and targeted drivers of oncoming vehicles, the defense said during Wednesday's hearing. All seven vehicles were damaged and three drivers, not including Bartell, were injured, prosecutors said.
During Wednesday's hearing, the defense said Karol-Chik sat in the front passenger seat of the car and handed Koenig — who was driving — the large landscaping stone that Koenig threw at Bartell, killing her. Karol-Chik also threw a stone at another vehicle.
Karol-Chik “knowingly engaged in conduct that posed a high risk of death” and showed “extreme indifference to the value of human life,” the First Judicial District Attorney's Office said in a news release.
Kwak pleaded guilty during his hearing Friday to first-degree assault, second-degree assault and criminal attempt to commit second-degree assault. He faces a prison term of 20 to 32 years when he is sentenced on September 3.
Koenig's next hearing is scheduled for July 3 and his jury trial begins July 19, according to Jefferson County District Court records.
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