116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Home / News / Crime and Courts
Judge will not move trial of Cedar Rapids man charged in Chris Bagley fatal stabbing
Judge: Man accused of hiring killers could try again if jury selection merits
Trish Mehaffey
Apr. 22, 2024 4:34 pm, Updated: Apr. 23, 2024 7:50 am
CEDAR RAPIDS — A judge has denied moving the murder trial of a Cedar Rapids man accused of hiring two men to kill Chris Bagley in 2018, ruling there is insufficient evidence to show pretrial publicity would prevent a fair and impartial jury from being selected in Linn County.
Sixth Judicial District Judge David Cox, in his ruling last week, said the majority of the news reports were “factual in nature” and didn’t indicate Andrew Thomas Shaw, 34, was guilty of the crime. The majority would be several years old by the time the trial starts, and the most recent articles were short and provided updates on when hearings were set, that Shaw pleaded not guilty and when the trial was expected to start.
Lawyers for Shaw, who is charged with first-degree murder, solicitation to commit murder and conspiracy to commit forcible felony, argued last month during a hearing there had been “highly publicized trials” of Drew Blahnik, now known as Johnny Blahnik Church, who was convicted of second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of Bagley, and of two others also convicted in connection with the killing.
Some jurors may have heard about this case, but the evidence produced by the defense is insufficient to change venue at this time, Cox said. If during jury selection there is a substantial likelihood that a fair and impartial trial can’t be maintained in Linn County, then Shaw can renew his motion to move the trial, Cox said in the ruling.
In the ruling, the judge also noted that many of the articles provided by the defense were published before the trial of Blahnik Church. Despite that publicity, an unbiased jury was selected in Linn County, the ruling said.
“This history supports the state’s argument that while there may be articles available to the public, they were not inflammatory or pervasive enough to prevent the defendant from having a fair trial in Linn County,” Cox said in the ruling.
Shaw was charged last October in the killing after he was released from a federal prison sentence for trafficking marijuana in Cedar Rapids. Shaw is accused of aiding and abetting Drew Wagner, 37, and Blahnik Church, 35 — 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 and paying them for the crime, the complaint stated.
Shaw has pleaded not guilty and remains in jail on $2 million bail pending trial.
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 said he didn’t hear the dollar amount.
In December 2018, Wagner got into a fight with Bagley and threw him up against a wall and held him as Blahnik Church stabbed Bagley multiple times. Blahnik Church brought the body back to Wagner’s house and buried it in the yard, Wagner testified.
Bagley’s body, buried under a pile of lumber and a canoe by Wagner’s garage, 4069 Soutter Ave. SE in Cedar Rapids, was excavated from the frozen ground by law enforcement March 1, 2019.
Blahnik Church is serving 57 years in prison for Bagley’s killing and is also serving time for assaulting another inmate while he was in the Linn County Jail. Wagner, who pleaded to amended charges of voluntary manslaughter, assault while participating in a felony, conspiracy to commit a forcible felony, abuse of a corpse and obstruction of prosecution, was sentenced to 47 years.
Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com