Cedar Rapids man accused of fatally stabbing Devonna Walker wants trial moved out of Linn County

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Cedar Rapids man charged with fatally stabbing Devonna Walker in January wants the trial moved out of Linn County.

Shane Teslik, 38, plans to file a motion for change of venue, John Bruzek, his lawyer, told 6th Judicial District Judge Jason Besler during a pretrial hearing Friday.

Bruzek said otherwise, the trial is on track to start March 24. Most of the depositions are completed in the case, except for two police officers they want to question who aren’t included on the prosecution’s witness list.

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He acknowledged that the prosecution will likely argue against the defense wanting to take depositions of the two officers because they aren’t included in the prosecution’s case.

Teslik is charged with voluntary manslaughter, a felony, and disorderly conduct-epithets/threatening gesture, a simple misdemeanor, in the Jan. 2 stabbing outside his residence at 2135 North Towne Ct. NE in Cedar Rapids.

At trial, Teslik plans to claim that he had the right to defend himself in his own home against the unlawful entry by force of another — Walker, according to a justification defense notice he filed in April.

Teslik, in that motion, stated he also has the right to defend himself against a forcible felony — first-degree burglary.

According to a criminal complaint, Teslik, who is white, had called Walker, who is Black, an “abusive racial” epithet or slur before she “charged” at him, pushing Teslik’s wife to the ground. Walker then struck Teslik twice on the left side of his face before he stabbed her, the complaint stated.

Teslik was provoked by Walker’s assault on him and his wife and he acted out of “sudden, violent and irresistible passion,” according to the complaint. Teslik “didn’t regain control or suppress the impulse to kill” and used a knife he retrieved from his home and stabbed Walker once in the left side of her chest.

Walker, a mother of three, died from the stab injury. An autopsy showed one fatal stab wound, and alcohol and drugs in her system.

The deadly incident was captured on a cellphone video taken by a neighbor, which was shared on social media after the incident. A coalition of activist groups protested after the fatal attack, demanding an arrest.

According to the complaint, the use of deadly force by Teslik was not justified because it wasn’t reasonable under these circumstances — Teslik “provoked the use of force against him and/or was committing a public offense at the time of the killing.”

Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks, when Teslik was charged, said Teslik “knew or reasonably should have known” the racial epithet would provoke a violent response from Walker because Walker had previously assaulted Teslik and his wife during a Dec. 19, 2022, argument.

The complaint stated Teslik told Walker he would kill her if she came near his home or family after she had assaulted him and his wife in December. Teslik also had called Walker the same racial slur in the December argument.

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