Hunter
02/09/23
The Iowa Court of Appeals has overturned the murder conviction of Drew Blahnik in the death of Chris Bagley in 2018.
The Gazette reports that the judge abused his discretion in asking the jury to continue when jurors revealed, in a note, “open hostility toward a lone holdout juror” after three days of deliberations.
In its statement, the Court said that because that lone juror knew the court was aware of situation, the judge’s supplemental instruction may have been interpreted as directing the juror to end their holdout.
Blahnik, who since changed his name to Johnny Blahnik Church, was denied a motion for a new trial before he was sentenced. The appeals court ruled that Blahnik Church had a fundamental right to a unanimous verdict, and remanded the case for a new trial.
The Linn County Attorney’s office says they will take the ruling to the state Supreme Court for review. If they uphold the ruling, the office will retry the case.
The Gazette adds Blahnik Church will remain in jail because he is also serving time on federal drug charges and in Linn County for beating up a drug informant while in jail.