Java behavior when static constructor throws exception

StaticClass.java

public class StaticClass {
    
    static {
        throwsException();
    }

    private static void throwsException() {
        throw new RuntimeException("bam!");
    }

    public static int SOMETHING = 0;
}

StaticClassTest.java

public class StaticClassTest {

    @Test
    public void testFailedStaticInitializer() throws Exception {
        tryAccessing(); // prints: java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
        tryAccessing(); // prints: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Could not initialize class com.kenshoo.kripke.scoresources.StaticTestClass
        tryAccessing(); // prints: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Could not initialize class com.kenshoo.kripke.scoresources.StaticTestClass
    }

    private void tryAccessing() {
        try {
            System.out.println(StaticClass.SOMETHING);
        } catch (Throwable e) {
            System.out.println(e);
        }
    }

}