Lawyers seated 12 potential jurors in the first day of the George Wagner IV mass murder trial in Pike County Monday, with the full jury expected to be seated Tuesday.
Lawyers struck, or removed, five potential jurors from the pool of 70 lawyers had earlier deemed qualified. That means the remaining 53 Pike County residents will report again Tuesday to be questioned to see if they will sit on the jury that will decide the fate of Wagner, 30.
Read more about the jury selection process here.
Wagner is charged with 22 crimes — including eight counts of aggravated murder, which could carry the death penalty if he is convicted — in the 2016 fatal shooting deaths of eight members of a southern Ohio family. The motive, prosecutors have alleged: Custody of his niece.
Wagner has pleaded not guilty. Wagner and his father, mother and younger brother were all charged in the April 22, 2016 deaths of members of the Rhoden family in what became Ohio's most complex and costly case in history. His father pleaded not guilty. His mother and younger brother pleaded guilty last year and are expected to testify against Wagner.
Victims families were not in the courtroom Monday. It is likely, however, they will arrive for opening statements set to begin Tuesday, Sept. 6.
After the jury is seated and the six alternates are chosen, it is expected they will travel to the scenes of the crimes, the former farmhouse where Wagner and his family members lived in 2016 as well as to other locations in and around Pike and Adam counties that prosecutors say is key in the case.
This is a process called jury view.
Wagner waived his right Monday to attend the jury view.
Of special interest in the jury view is Wagner's grandmother's farm. It is the site where officials are believed to have found the weapons they allege were used in the killings.
In 2021, Wagner's brother, Jake, lead officials to three guns — a Walther .22-caliber handgun, an SKS semi-automatic rifle that fires 7.62x39 mm rounds and a Glock .40-caliber handgun.
According to discovery documents filed in court, it appears officials may have found those weapons hidden in concrete buckets on the property. They also found a knife in concrete. However, there has never been any indication any of the victims were stabbed. The jury view motion indicates they will visit "the large pond" on her property.
On Monday, Pike County Common Pleas Judge Randy Deering ruled on several other motions:
A supplement to an early order related to the media. In the most recent order, Deering reiterated the gag order in the case and advised media not to name any juror in the case. Read the order below.
Defense lawyers argued that jurors in the larger pool did not represent a cross section of the county and were not a fair representation of working-class residents and the jury selection process should start over. Deering denied the motion, saying there was no systematic exclusion of jurors.
Jurors are considered "death qualified" meaning they were asked their opinions on the death penalty. Those who were opposed where removed from the pool.
Read Deering's entry on both issues below:
Question for class:
The gag order remains in the case, meaning the lawyers can not talk about the case as it is continuing, but your editor wants stories that explain the process, what happened today in court and what is coming up. List two ways you would continue to report on this case.
We discussed ledes and nut graphs in class Monday.What kind of lede is this and does this story have a nut graph? If so, what is it?
The gag order remains in the case, meaning the lawyers can not talk about the case as it is continuing, but your editor wants stories that explain the process, what happened today in court and what is coming up. List two ways you would continue to report on this case. You can continue to report what has happened so far, report stuff that has not yet been shared. You could interview the witnesses or suspects as well.