Cedar Rapids man sentenced to 10 years in jail beating

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Cedar Rapids man pleaded guilty Thursday to attacking and assaulting a drug informant in the Linn County Jail last year in an attempt to prevent him from testifying in a federal drug case.

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Gregory Sills, 50, pleaded to willful injury resulting in serious injury, a felony. His other charge of tampering with a witness was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

Sixth Judicial District Senior Judge Patrick Grady also immediately sentenced Sills to a mandatory 10 years in prison. Sills waived his right to a presentencing report and requested immediate sentencing.

Sills admitted to assaulting the drug witness, Ethan Palmer, 48, of Oelwein, and that he intended to inflict serious injury.

During sentencing, Sills declined to make a statement to the court.

According to a criminal complaint, Sills helped Johnny Blahnik Church, 36, formerly known as Drew Blahnik, assault Palmer. They followed Palmer into the bathroom in their cell pod at the Linn County Jail on May 27, 2022, and began “striking” Palmer. They eventually dragged Palmer out into the main area of the cellblock and continued to attack him.

Blahnik Church and Sills “repeatedly punched, kicked and hit Palmer with a metal lunch tray causing serious injuries.” Palmer’s injuries included a broken nose, two broken orbital bones, a torn retina, chipped teeth and a broken knee, the complaint stated.

Palmer’s wife, Laurie Palmer, told The Gazette last year about the attack on her husband. Law enforcement and court documents from a federal conviction of the drug dealer, Justin Michael Buehler, 39, who Palmer testified against, confirmed the assault.

Buehler was convicted in U.S. District Court last June for distributing methamphetamine.

Palmer, 12 days after he was assaulted in jail, and Sills testified at Buehler’s trial about his drug trafficking, according to federal court documents.

Evidence at that trial showed Buehler knew Palmer had been arrested and would be taken to the same jail pod where Buehler had previously been in custody before being transferred to another jail, U.S. District Judge C.J. Williams said in an order denying Buehler a new trial.

Blahnik Church also was convicted of tampering with a witness and willful injury causing serious injury in Palmer’s assault. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, which was run consecutively with his 57-year sentence for fatally stabbing Chris Bagley, 31, of Walker, in 2018, and a five-year federal sentence he is serving for possession of a firearm as a drug user.

The Iowa Court of Appeals overturned Blahnik’s murder conviction in February and Blahnik Church was given a new trial, but the Iowa Supreme Court granted further review of the appeals decision.

The Linn County Attorney’s Office asked the Iowa Attorney General’s Office to file the application after appeal court overturned the jury’s verdict.

Last year, Palmer also filed a lawsuit against the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Marshals, Blahnik Church and Sills for the jail assault.

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