116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Trish Mehaffey
Reporter covering state and federal courts, and whatever legal issues come my way. I also provide live coverage of criminal trials on Twitter @tmehaffey and welcome comments and questions from readers during the trials. Outside of work I love movies, tennis and my Kansas State Wildcats! Go Cats! Stay informed with the Public Safety newsletter.
Latest Articles by Trish Mehaffey
Crime & Courts Aug. 27, 2025 4:55 pm70d 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.
Crime & Courts Aug. 19, 2025 3:38 pm78d ago
He distributed the ice meth in Marion and Cedar Rapids throughout 2023.
Crime & Courts Aug. 21, 2025 9:53 am77d ago
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.
Crime & Courts Aug. 19, 2025 1:46 pm79d ago
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.
Crime & Courts Aug. 18, 2025 2:59 pm79d ago
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.
Crime & Courts Aug. 14, 2025 7:30 am84d ago
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.
Crime & Courts Aug. 13, 2025 7:21 am85d ago
Drew Wagner, testifying in the Andrew Shaw murder trial, said he didn’t give police investigators all the details in the fatal stabbing of Chris Bagley in 2018 because he was scared. Testimony continued Wednesday in Cedar Rapids.
Crime & Courts Aug. 13, 2025 7:43 am85d ago
A Shellsburg man, set to start trial today in Johnson County for helping his lover kill her husband in June of 2021, unexpectedly pleaded guilty and faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Crime & Courts Aug. 12, 2025 7:14 am86d ago
Drew Wagner testified Monday he didn’t know Johnny Blahnik Church was serious about killing Chris Bagley in 2018, but he admitted he used a wrestling hold on Bagley while Blahnik Church fatally stabbed him. Andrew Shaw, Wagner said, then paid Blahnik Church cash, drugs and an SUV for the killing.
Crime & Courts Aug. 11, 2025 8:13 am87d ago
A Cedar Rapids man, already convicted in the fatal stabbing of Chris Bagley in 2018, testified in court Friday that Bagley and Andrew Shaw were friends until Bagley started robbing, extorting him. Shaw is on trial for first-degree murder and other charges related to Bagley’s murder.
Crime & Courts Aug. 21, 2025 9:57 am77d ago
“The why” as to fatal stabbing of Chris Bagley on Dec. 14, 2018 is one man, Andrew Shaw, a Linn County prosecutor said Thursday. Bagley had become a “liability” and Shaw is accused of paying two men to carry out his fatal stabbing.
Crime & Courts Aug. 7, 2025 8:02 am91d ago
Man still has other pending cases for domestic assault and violating sex offender registration requirements.
Crime & Courts Aug. 7, 2025 8:13 am91d ago
Hawkeye Waste reached a temporary agreement with the Johnson County Attorney’s Office when it purchased workers’ compensation insurance after the county asked a judge to shut down the business because operating without insurance is violating Iowa law.
Crime & Courts Aug. 6, 2025 6:55 pm91d ago
A Coralville woman convicted for distributing “thousands“ of fentanyl pills in 2024 was sentenced this week to 7 years in federal prison. She transported the pills from Washington and was nabbed when she returned to Iowa.
Crime & Courts Aug. 5, 2025 4:02 pm92d ago
Cedar Rapids man convicted in Malik Sheets fatal shooting in 2020 pleaded Tuesday to gun charge in federal court. He faces up to 15 years in prison.

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