Colorado bill changing penalties for murder with extreme indifference passes House by single vote

After hours of debate, the Colorado House of Representatives passed a bill by a single vote that changes the penalty for murder with extreme indifference.

Perhaps the most high-profile case involving the change is the murder of 20-year-old Alexa Bartell in Jefferson County. Bartell was killed when a 9-pound landscaping rock was hurled through her windshield from an oncoming car back in 2023. 

Three 18-year-old men were charged in her murder and with injuring others by throwing rocks at random drivers in the area. Two of the teens accepted plea deals in exchange for their testimony against the third suspect, Joseph Koenig, who was convicted of extreme indifference murder and sentenced to life without parole.

Investigators say the three young men didn't call for help after they saw Bartell's car crash into a nearby field and instead drove back and took pictures of the car.

Republican state Rep. Ty Winter read a heartbreaking letter from Bartell's mom on the House floor, as members debated a bill that would make similar crimes parole eligible.

Colorado is the only state in the country where someone who kills due to extreme recklessness receives the same sentence — life without parole — as someone who kills intentionally and after deliberation.

Republican representatives read the names of Coloradans, including Bartell. They were murdered by people the Colorado District Attorneys' Council says would have been eligible for parole if not for Colorado's extreme indifference murder statute.

Democratic state Rep. Javier Mabrey says first-degree murder and murder with extreme indifference are different crimes involving different mindsets and, as such, should be punished differently. 

"This bill is about life without the possibility of parole," Mabrey said at the House podium. "This bill is about the difference between a person who wakes up in morning and decides after making a plan that they will end someone's life and a person who makes a reckless choice in a moment without forethought, without targeting and without deliberate and specific intent to kill."

Legislation by Democratic state Reps. Cecilia Espenoza and Michael Carter recognizes that difference.

Under the bill, offenders who kill more than one person, a child under 12 or a first responder all due to extreme indifference would face life without parole. But, if they kill one person, they would face 24 to 48 years, and, if they attempt to kill someone, they would face 10 to 32 years.

Democratic state Rep. Yara Zokaie says the bill gives individuals who didn't intentionally kill a chance at redemption.

"It draws clear lines between different levels of culpability," Zokaie said at the House podium. 

Winter says it bases punishment on the number and type of victims instead of the crime.

"If you pick your victim, that it is worse. That if you endanger everyone, that it is less," Winter said at the House podium. "When someone acts in a way that says, 'I don't care who dies,' that is not lesser form of culpability, it is a broader one. It is a more dangerous one ... If by pure chance the right victim dies or the right number of people, that somehow matters more."

Supporters of the bill note that prosecutors can still stack charges in cases of murder with extreme indifference, so they are effectively still life sentences.

The bill also increases penalties for vehicular homicides when drivers are under the influence, flee the scene or commit another crime such as speeding.

The bill next will go to to the Colorado Senate.