Two of the men convicted in the fatal stabbing of Chris Bagley in 2018 sat in a Linn County courtroom two weeks ago and spoke to Bagley’s heartbroken parents and siblings, who have been searching for answers about how — and why — their loved one was killed more than six years ago.
Andrew Shaw faces up to 50 years in prison for second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of Chris Bagley on Dec. 14, 2018. The jury, in their verdict of the lesser charge of first-degree murder, found he set in motion the assault of Bagley, knowing it could lead to murder.
Johnny Blahnik Church, formerly known as Drew Blahnik, who was convicted for killing Chris Bagley in 2018, told a grand jury in 2019 that Andrew Shaw wasn’t involved in Bagley’s killing in any way.
In Andrew Shaw’s first-degree murder trial Friday, jurors heard details of the 17 stab wounds that damaged Chris Bagley’s airway, slashed his jugular vein and penetrated his heart, lung and other organs. In other testimony, two former inmates said Shaw made comments to them about paying someone to kill Bagley in 2018.
Andrew Shaw, during a police interview, denied hiring two men to kill Chris Bagley in 2018. He told investigators he wanted someone to beat Bagley up but never asked Drew Wagner or Johnny Blahnik Church to do it.
Paul Hoff’s account of the fatal stabbing of Chris Bagley in December 2018 differed from that told by Drew Wagner, who testified earlier this week in the first-degree murder trial of Andrew Shaw, who’s accused of hiring two men to kill Bagley.
The trial for a Cedar Rapids man accused of hiring two men to kill Chris Bagley will be delayed because a witness for the prosecution can’t testify in person next week because he’s under a chickenpox quarantine in federal prison. The judge denied a motion to have the witness testify by video.
Lawyers for Cedar Rapids man accused of hiring two men to kill Chris Bagley in 2018 asked a judge to toss out the murder charge because evidence doesn’t support theories of the charge. The defense also wants to exclude evidence of drug activities.
The man convicted of fatally stabbing Chris Bagley will represent himself in his drug trial April 19. He is already serving up 57 years in prison in the murder.
A Cedar Rapids man failed to appear last week on a charge of threatening a Linn County prosecutor because he was upset that his friend was convicted for killing Chris Bagley in 2018.
Drew Blahnik, convicted of killing Chris Bagley, will now go by the name of Johnny Blahnik Church. Court records will stay in his birth name.
Chris Bagley’s father refused to say Drew Blahnik’s name during Blahnik’s sentencing Friday. Blahnik, 34, was sentenced to 57 years in prison.
Drew Blahnik’s sentencing is set for Dec. 17. He faces up to 57 years in prison.
Drew Blahnik, convicted of killing Chris Bagley in 2018, wants a new trial, claiming one of the jurors, a Marion bar manager, knew Bagley or Blahnik. Prosecutor says there’s no evidence, just an allegation of a bartender who didn’t totally recall what she said.
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