A Jefferson County District judge on Friday stunned his courtroom when he postponed a long-awaited evidentiary hearing for three defendants accused of killing a 20-year-old Arvada woman in an April rock-throwing incident.

First Judicial District Judge Christopher Zenisek’s decision surprised prosecutors and disappointed a gallery full of Alexa Bartell’s friends and family — some of whom traveled from out of town to attend the critical hearing.

“I know a lot of people are ready to have the case advance,” Zenisek apologized to the crowd, who sat shoulder-to-shoulder in the tight space. “I am too.”

Defendants Nicholas “Mitch” Karol-Chik, Joseph Koenig and Zachary Kwak, all 18, are facing 13 counts each in connection with Bartell’s April 19 death when a rock crashed through her windshield while she was driving, and injuries and property damage to several other motorists.

During a preliminary hearing, prosecutors present their evidence to a judge who then decides if there’s enough to send the case to trial.

Bartell’s supporters showed little emotion as the judge announced his ruling and most of them walked out of the Jefferson County courthouse with their heads up, some shaking their heads quietly.

Zenisik agreed with the defense that two new charges stemming from an alleged statue-throwing incident April 1 would require further review by attorneys. Evidence to support the new counts includes cellphone data and Onstar information from a truck that two of the defendants were said by prosecutors to have driven that night.

Defense attorneys wanted the chance to have an expert review the findings and Zenisek agreed that attorneys had a right to prepare for cross-examination.

Prosecutors argued in vain that they could establish probable cause without presenting the cellphone and Onstar evidence.

Prosecutors allege that on the night of April 1, just weeks before Bartell was killed, Koenig and Karol-Chik threw a statue head at a moving car, damaging the vehicle but not injuring the family inside.

The original charges include:

• One count of first-degree murder with extreme indifference
• Six counts of criminal attempt to commit first-degree murder 
• Three counts of second-degree assault
• Three counts of criminal attempt to commit second-degree assault

According to the arrest affidavit, one of them threw a landscaping rock which smashed into Bartell’s windshield, hit her in the head, and exited the back window of her yellow Chevy Spark.

She was on the phone with her partner as she drove on 10850 Indiana Street, just south of Highway 128, when the line went silent. Alarmed, her partner used an application to track Bartell’s phone and drove to the location where she found Bartell unresponsive in her car in a field, arrest records show.

At least three other drivers were injured in the crime spree which lasted 45 minutes as the three suspects allegedly drove around northwest Jefferson County lobbing landscaping rocks from either a sun roof or from side windows, according to the arrest affidavit. At least seven cars were hit between 10:00 and 10:45 p.m. that night.

Arrest documents say that on the way home from a night of deadly mischief, the three agreed to be “blood brothers” and to stay silent about the incident. The next day, Koenig and Kwak met and got their stories straight with intent to deny the incident if anyone found out about it, court documents show.

The new counts, which numbered 14 and 15, were introduced through a motion filed by the prosecution on Aug. 22 and Aug 30. That was too late, Koenig’s attorneys argued, for them to get experts on board.

Prosecutors said that at this time they will have no further charges, though Karol-Chik alluded to at least ten such incidents from February through April 2023 during interviews with detectives, according to the arrest affidavit.

Kwak, Karol-Chik and Koenig did not appear to meet eyes with their families who sat behind them in the courtroom. The three men sported new haircuts, orange or green jail jumpsuits and were chained around their waists. They sat in a crowded row along a single table with their attorneys.

Neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys commented on the continuance. The hearing was moved to Oct. 18.