A Jefferson County District judge sentenced 20-year-old Zachary Kwak to 32 years in prison Friday morning for the death of Alexa Bartell — just a day after his co-defendant, Nicholas Karol-Chik, was sentenced to 45 years in prison.

Kwak sat throughout the hearing with seemingly no expression, as he did at both his hearings and the first-degree murder trial of his third co-defendant, 20-year-old Joseph Koenig. The lack of visible remorse remained a theme throughout the victim statements of Bartell’s family.

Bartell’s family, on the other hand, remained emotional, with each member crying and trembling at the podium.

“I haven’t seen remorse. I haven’t seen a tear shed. Nothing,” Jenna Griggs, Bartell’s girlfriend, said as she cried on the stand.

“I ask you to consider the crime Kwak wasn’t charged with, and that’s robbery,” Ryan Bartell, Alexa Bartell’s brother, said to the judge. “Alexa, our parents and extended family have been robbed and deprived of so many special occasions with her.”

First Judicial District Judge Christopher Zenisek officially sentenced Kwak to 27 years on first-degree assault, five years on second-degree assault and eight years on attempt to commit second-degree assault in the April 19, 2023 murder of Bartell.

The eight years will run concurrently to the 32 years, with a mandatory five years of parole after release. The sentence was the maximum he could receive.

Koenig was driving Karol-Chik’s truck around 11 p.m. on April 19 near the 10600 block of Indiana Street near Rocky Flats Wildlife Refuge. Bartell was driving past them on her way to her girlfriend’s home.

Karol-Chik then handed Koenig a 9-pound landscaping rock. Koenig sped up to at least 80 mph and threw the rock from the driver’s side window, striking and killing Bartell.

The incident was not the first time Koenig and Karol-Chik had thrown rocks at moving cars, with at least three different nights between February and April resulting in 10 victims, including Bartell.

All nine other victims testified at Koenig’s two-week trial before he was found guilty of first-degree murder and 18 other charges.

Kwak’s defense attorney, Emily Boehme, and a packed side of the court filled with members of his family, all claimed that Kwak’s lack of visible remorse was not an indicator of him lacking regret, but an effect of his multiple psychological diagnoses.

According to Boehme, Kwak was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and social pragmatic communication disorder — the latter of which causing a lack of understanding social cues and reacting outwardly.

“It’s hard to imagine the suffering happening beyond those dark brown eyes of his,” Jessica Barnes, Kwak’s girlfriend, said, calling him one of the most empathetic people she had ever met.

“Zach is not a hardened criminal. He is not unrepentant. I’ve heard the anguish in his voice. I’ve seen the pain in his eyes,” Sheri Kwak, Kwak’s mother, said through tears.

According to Boehme, Kwak suffered from depression since he was a child, being placed on anti-depressants when he was 14 and going through inpatient and outpatient programs for mental health and substance abuse for a year when he was 15.

Kwak eventually overcame his addictions, became an active member of his church and helped at a homeless shelter, according to his family. He still suffered with depression and finding friends.

Kwak had just met Koenig and Karol-Chik weeks prior to April 19. He claimed throughout investigations and his testimony that he did not throw any rocks during the night, but Karol-Chik said he did during his own testimony.

The defendant did admit to picking up the rocks throughout the evening, with Karol-Chik claiming he told Kwak the 9-pound rock was too big, but Kwak allegedly told him if no one else would throw it, he would.

Evidence during Koenig’s trial showed a windshield with two points of impact directly next to each other, something that wouldn’t be possible if Karol-Chik threw the rock from the passenger side, implying Kwak had thrown it with Koenig on the driver’s side.

The holes in Kwak’s story brought unease amongst Bartell’s family and Zenisek, despite Kwak’s defense stating he passed three of the district attorney office’s polygraph tests and allegedly proving truth in his story.

“The court has heard evidence that could call into question much of the versions of events Mr. Kwak has repeated,” Zenisek said Friday.

“I think he is just involved in what they all call complete chaos,” Bartell’s uncle, Jeff Bartell, said, calling the incident “malicious, brutal and a complete senseless act of violence.”

Furthermore, Kwak was the one that took a picture of Bartell’s car after she came to a stop in a nearby field. His phone was also not picked up on cellular towers, suggesting that he turned it off before the rock throwing.

“It speaks volumes about what kind of night this was and what he knew was coming,” Bartell’s mother, Kelly Bartell, said of Kwak potentially turning his phone off. “It’s not just what happened that night, it’s how they behaved afterward that makes this unbearable.”

Following the death, Kwak went on to attend his prom and go on a vacation, according to the prosecutors.

“The decision not to act or help speaks volumes in itself,” Erin Miller, Bartell’s cousin, said.

Kwak and Karol-Chik were arrested six days after the death and eventually struck plea deals with the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office for lesser charges. In return, both testified against Koenig.

Karol-Chik pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder and was sentenced Thursday.

Bartell’s family — who packed the court during every hearing and throughout the trial — repeated speeches at both of the sentencings, an act that prosecutor Brynn Chase said was important. She said all of the defendants needed to hear the impact they caused to the family.

“There’s no changing my actions in those moments, and those are decisions that I’ll have to carry with me for the rest of my life,” Kwak told the court Friday, adding that he plans on attending college in prison and wants to work to be successful once he leaves.

Zenisek agreed that his diagnoses support Kwak’s lack of emotion during the hearings and trial and the outpouring community and family support is important in determining a sentence, but his actions impacted an entire community of people.

Though Kwak was deemed by psychiatric tests to not have intent to harm, Zenisek said he doesn’t need the evidence.

“There’s physical evidence of it,” he said. “There’s a rock blasting through a windshield, there’s family devastation, there’s a back windshield completely blown out and there’re people experiencing the most horrifying night of their life trying to track down their loved one.”

Koenig, the last of the three co-defendants, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 3, and is slated to a receive a mandatory life in prison.