LINN COUNTY, Iowa — An Iowa man who was convicted of stabbing a Cedar Rapids man to death in retaliation for a theft from a drug dealer has been sentenced to 57 years in prison.
ABC News affiliate KCRG reports Drew Blahnik was sentenced earlier this month for killing Chris Bagley, 31, in December 2018 and then burying his body.
Police found Bagley’s body in the backyard of a Cedar Rapids home in March 2019.
Prosecutors said Blahnik stabbed Bagley in retaliation for his robbery of a large-scale marijuana trafficker.
At trial, Blahnik’s lawyers acknowledged that he stabbed Bagley, but they argued that he was acting in self defense after Bagley waved a gun during a fight.
WATCH | With body still missing, authorities arrest, charge man with first-degree murder of woman