Gazette Daily News Briefing, November 18
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, November 18.
The snow will give us a break on Friday, but chilly weather will take its place. According to the National Weather Service it will be cloudy with a high near 22 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area on Friday. A west wind of 15 mph could gust as high as 25 mph. On Friday night it will be partly cloudy, with a low of around 14 degrees. The wind will lessen Friday night, but only a little bit.
A Linn County jury on Thursday convicted Dimione Walker of first-degree murder in the April 10 fatal shooting of Michael Valentine inside the Taboo Nightclub & Lounge in downtown Cedar Rapids.
Walker, who claimed self-defense, briefly looked down as the verdict was read but then started smiling and almost laughing. After the jury left the courtroom, he continued to laugh. He winked at someone in the gallery as he was being taken from the courtroom in handcuffs.
Walker faces a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. His sentencing is set for Dec. 16.
Jurors found Walker, 29, of Coralville, guilty of first-degree murder, going armed with intent and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The verdict was returned in less than 90 minutes, which is the shortest deliberation in recent years for a Linn County murder.
Crews pulled a retired couple from the basement onto the lawn after responding to a house fire in northeast Cedar Rapids. The couple was declared dead at the scene, according to authorities and family members.
Charles Osterkamp, 72, and Sheri Osterkamp, 70, were the only occupants of the home.
Their son, Mark Osterkamp, said his parents had been retired for a few years. Charles Osterkamp worked at the former Midland Forge plant as a laborer. Sheri Osterkamp had been a stay-at-home mom.
Firefighters were called at 12:08 p.m. to the 3800 block of Pine Tree Dr. NE after a 911 caller reported seeing smoke. When firefighters arrived, witnesses told them there were people inside the one-story structure, according to a city news release.
Crews found two people in the lower level and brought them outside, where they were declared dead.
A Marion man convicted in the 2018 murder of Chris Bagley pleaded guilty Thursday to charges he assaulted a drug informant in jail to prevent him from testifying against a drug dealer.
Johnny Blahnik Church, 35, formerly known as Drew Blahnik, pleaded guilty to tampering with a witness and willful injury causing serious injury. The plea was an Alford plea, meaning that Blahnik Church still holds he is innocent of the charges, but admits that the prosecution has enough evidence to convict him in a trial.
According to a criminal complaint, Blahnik Church, along with Gregory Sills, 49, of Oelwein, followed Ethan Palmer, the drug informant, into the bathroom in their cell pod at the Linn County Jail on May 27, and began “striking” Palmer. They eventually dragged Palmer out into the main area of the cellblock and continued to attack him.
Palmer’s injuries included a broken nose, two broken orbital bones, a torn retina, chipped teeth and a broken knee, the complaint states.
Palmer was set to testify at the federal trial of Justin Michael Buehler, who was charged and later convicted of two counts of distributing methamphetamine. Palmer still testified in the trial, which started 12 days after the assault. Palmer had been in the jail awaiting trial on drug and theft charges out of Black Hawk and Fayette counties.
