Cedar Rapids man charged with threatening prosecutor

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Cedar Rapids man is accused of harassing a Linn County prosecutor about a murder trial in which his friend was convicted of fatally stabbing Chris Bagley in 2018.

Marcus Alan DeVore, 34, was charged in December with third-degree harassment. According to a criminal complaint, he had personal contact with the intent to threaten or intimidate First Assistant Linn County Attorney Monica Slaughter on Dec. 22 at the Linn County Courthouse.

After DeVore was warned not to contact Slaughter again, he continued to send “threatening, intimidating, alarming and annoying” messages to her. He admitted to officers that he sent these messages through Facebook and that they included “vulgar, threatening, alarming and intimidating language and emoji’s,” the complaint states.

DeVore was upset at the prosecutor because his friend, Drew Blahnik — who legally changed his name to Johnny Blahnik Church — was convicted last year of second-degree murder, obstruction of prosecution and abuse of a corpse in the Dec. 14, 2018, fatal stabbing of Chris Bagley, 31, of Walker. He is serving 57 years in prison.

Blahnik stabbed Bagley 13 times in the neck and torso during a fight, and then helped bury his body on the property where Drew Wagner, also convicted in Bagley’s killing, was living at the time, according to testimony.

DeVore, who was out of jail on a $300 bail pending his trial, failed to appear in court to be formally charged last Friday. A warrant has been issued for his arrest, and a magistrate judge determined he failed to appear and set his bail for $750 cash only.

A notice also was sent to DeVore that his $300 appearance bail would be forfeited.

According to court documents, DeVore faces jail time if convicted. Penalty for a simple misdemeanor can be a fine and up to 30 days in jail. Assistant Linn County Attorney Alex Anderson filed a notice that he will ask the court for the maximum 30 days in jail because of the alleged conduct of DeVore.

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