Sentencing reset to August for man convicted in fatal attack of Chris Bagley

CEDAR RAPIDS - A judge reset sentencing for a Cedar Rapids man convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Chris Bagley in 2018.

The sentencing of Drew Wagner, originally set for Wednesday in Linn County District Court. was reset to Aug. 8 by 6th Judicial District Judge Christopher Bruns.

Wagner, 34, admitted last year to starting a fight with Bagley for robbing their drug dealer and then holding Bagley down while another man repeatedly stabbed him to death.

The sentencing was reset because Wagner, as part of his plea agreement, must testify against Drew Blahnik, who is accused of fatally stabbing Bagley, 31, of Walker, in a mobile home Dec. 14, 2018.

Bruns in January reset Blahnik's trial, original scheduled for February, to July 13.

Wagner, originally charged with first-degree murder, pleaded in June to amended charges of voluntary manslaughter, assault while participating in a felony, conspiracy to commit a forcible felony, abuse of a corpse and obstruction of prosecution. He faces up to 37 years in prison.

During the plea, Wagner admitted he went with Blahnik to the mobile home that day intending to assault Bagley, 31, of Walker.

Wagner said he held Bagley down while Blahnik stabbed him multiple times.

Wagner then moved the Bagley's body to his residence in southeast Cedar Rapids and buried the body on the property.

In a separate case, Wagner also pleaded guilty to possession with intent to deliver marijuana and failure to affix a drug tax stamp. Those two five-year sentences will run concurrently for a total of five years, according to the plea agreement.

It will be left up to Bruns' discretion as to whether to run those five-year terms concurrently or consecutively to the 37 years in prison.

Blahnik, 33, of Cedar Rapids, is charged with first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and obstruction of prosecution. He will claim self-defense at trial.

Bagley, a husband and father of two, left home Dec. 13, 2018, with a woman his wife didn't know. He never returned. Authorities found his body buried in the yard at 4069 Soutter Ave. SE, where Wagner had been living, on March 1, 2019.

Many details of what happened in those early morning hours were revealed during a 2019 federal hearing involving a drug investigation of Andrew Shaw, 31, of Cedar Rapids, who provided drugs for Bagley, Wagner and Blahnik.

Shaw was convicted of large-scale marijuana trafficking in federal court and was sentenced to eight years in federal prison. He hasn't been charged in Bagley's death.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com