Trial delay for Cedar Rapids man accused of hiring others to kill Chris Bagley

CEDAR RAPIDS — A trial for a Cedar Rapids man accused of hiring two men to kill Chris Bagley in 2018 will be reset from Jan. 16 to 23 in Linn County District Court.

Andrew Thomas Shaw, 34, has demanded a speedy trial, but his lawyer, during a hearing Monday, told 6th Judicial District Judge David Cox they needed more time to prepare for trial and asked for a February date, which is within the 90 days for speedy trial.

First Assistant Linn County Attorney Monica Slaughter said the prosecutors have other felony trials in February and this trial may go into a third week, which would conflict with one of the prosecutors’ other trials.

Slaughter said she had hoped during Monday’s hearing they would find out if Shaw is planning to ask for a change of venue because that will present another issue to consider if he’s not waiving speedy trial. She asked if the defense knew what pretrial motions — like a possible waiver — would be filed.

Julia Zelenski, Shaw’s lawyer, said some pretrial motions would likely be filed but didn’t know what those will be.

Cox set a status conference for Dec. 27, in an attempt to give the defense more time to consider what pretrial motions would be filed. He warned both sides that other Class A felony trials are coming up and resources — specifically, court reporters — will be limited, depending on trial date.

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The district is down to nine court reporters. There are 11 open positions because of the statewide and nationwide court reporter shortage.

A warrant for Shaw, a convicted drug trafficker, was issued last year, while he was still serving his federal prison sentence for trafficking marijuana in Cedar Rapids.

He was then charged in October with first-degree murder, solicitation to commit murder and conspiracy to commit forcible felony, according to a criminal complaint.

Shaw is accused of aiding and abetting Drew Wagner, 38, and Johnny Blahnik Church, 36, formerly known as Drew Blahnik — both convicted in Bagley’s fatal stabbing — between Oct. 1, 2018, and Feb. 20, 2019, according to the complaint. He also is accused of hiring them to kill Bagley, 31, of Walker, and paying them for the crime, the complaint stated.

Shaw has pleaded not guilty to the charges and remains in jail on $2 million bail pending trial.

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Wagner, during the trial for Blahnik Church, testified how he and Blahnik Church carried out Bagley’s killing on behalf of their mutual drug dealer, Shaw, as revenge because Bagley had robbed Shaw of money and drugs and beat him up.

Wagner said Bagley had stolen between $23,000 and up to $200,000 from Shaw. He also said he’d overheard Shaw asking Blahnik Church if he would kill Bagley for some amount of money — he didn’t hear the dollar amount.

Wagner got into a fight with Bagley and threw him up against a wall and put him in a bear hug as Blahnik Church stabbed Bagley multiple times. Bagley died from 17 stab wounds to his neck and torso, according to trial testimony.

Blahnik Church brought the body back to Wagner’s house and buried it in the yard on Soutter Avenue SE, Wagner testified.

Later, Wagner said he met Shaw at his investment business and told him what had happened to Bagley. Shaw gave him marijuana for an associate, a package of about $10,000 in cash, some THC wax and 100 THC cartridges for Blahnik Church as payment for the killing.

Wagner said he didn’t want any money from Shaw but said Shaw later tried to undercharge him for marijuana that Wagner would sell.

Bagley’s body was excavated from the frozen ground by law enforcement March 1, 2019. The body was found buried under a pile of lumber and a canoe by Wagner’s garage.

Blahnik Church, who claimed self-defense in the stabbing, was convicted of second-degree murder and other charges and was sentenced in December 2021 to 57 years in prison. He also is serving time for assaulting another inmate while in the Linn County Jail.

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