After nine weeks of testimony, the state of Ohio rested its case against George Wagner IV on Thursday and the defense will officially present its case to jurors on Tuesday.
Wagner IV, 31, faces 22 counts including eight counts of aggravated murder and conspiracy in the 2016 slayings of eight members of the Rhoden family, all of whom where shot in the head inside the trailers where they lived. Prosecutors have argued that Wagners acted as a family in the planning, execution and cover-up of the crimes to maintain custody of a shared toddler.
Read the Dayton Daily News story and WLWT's story here from Thursday.
Wagner's younger brother, Edward "Jake' Wagner, 29, and his mother, Angela Wagner, 52, testified that George IV accompanied the younger Wagner and their father, George "Billy" Wagner on the murder spree. Jake Wagner testified that his brother did not shoot anyone.
Defense lawyer Richard Nash argued in this opening statement, however, that his client did not go with his family members that fateful night and only learned of the slayings the next morning. he told jurors that prosecutors are putting the Wagner family on trial and that they can not convict his client based on that testimony.
“Every time you hear ‘The Wagners,’ think of how that applies to George,” Nash said in opening statement. “George cannot help that he was born into the Wagner family ... but that doesn’t make him a murderer.”
Defense lawyers have twice called witnesses before the state rested its case because they had flown in to provide that testimony, including two pastors from a church in Alaska that the Wagners attended during their 11-month stay in Kenai in 2018 prior to their arrest. A tattoo artist, their former employer in Alaska as well as a forensic expert also testified on behalf of the defense.
The tattoo artist said the design — a skull with an eight-ball in its mouth — he inked on George IV's upper arm was his idea and was meant to cover-up an earlier tattoo. Prosecutors have implied that the tattoo, which he received after the homicides, was a memento to the killings.
The pastors, a son and father, testified that they knew the Wagners from Ohio before they moved to Alaska and confirmed they attended the church. The church was where Jake Wagner met Elizabeth Armer, whom he later married. She testified in the case for the prosecution and detailed an abusive and controlling Wagner home that she eventually escaped from in fear.
Jonathyn W. Priest, a bloodstain pattern expert told jurors Thursday that one person could have shot all eight victims.
Jake Wagner has testified that he shot five of the victims and his father shot three.
However, Andy Wilson, one of the three prosecutors, pushed Priest on his claim, until Priest agreed that other evidence found at the scenes pointed to the possibility of more than one gunman.
Read Local 12's coverage of some of the testimony here.
The defense subpoenaed another 10 possible witnesses — including a federally convicted felon who was recently released from prison. It remains unclear if Wagner IV will testify on his own behalf or if Nash and his co-counsel John Parker intend to recall either Jake or Angela Wagner.
It remains unknown when jurors will get the case as the defense needs to rest its case.
There likely will be a prosecution rebuttal, which is evidence or witnesses they will call to refute any evidence the defense put on during its case. Pike County Common Pleas Judge Randy Deering will also read hi instructions to the jurors, which could take a fair bit of time given Wagner IV faces 22 criminal charges and prosecutors introduced more than 50 witnesses in the case and voluminous evidence.
Prosecutors will likely dismiss the death penalty from the case before the jury begins its deliberations. As part of the plea agreement with Jake Wagner, prosecutors agreed to dismiss the death penalty against him and his family members in exchange for his truthful testimony in the case, which occurred earlier this month.
It is unclear how quickly jurors will deliberate, as each case is different.
Questions for students:
Why is there no dateline on this story?
I intentionally left out two to three key pieces of background information: What do you think they are? What is missing? What would you have included?
Identify any AP errors and correct them.
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