In the second day of testimony in his own defense, the man accused in the conspiracy to kill eight member of a southern Ohio family in 2016 repeatedly said he could not remember much of what he told investigators in 2017.
Special Prosecutor Angela Canepa homed in and highlighted several key discrepancies during her cross-examination of George Wagner IV on Thursday in Waverly, Ohio. Wagner, 31, faces eight counts of aggravated murder and conspiracy in the shooting deaths of members of the Rhoden family, including two young mothers who were nursing infants when they were killed.
Wagner shocked onlookers on Wednesday when he took the stand and testified for much of the day denying he knew about his family's plan to kill the Rhodens, was asleep the night of the slayings and did not help to cover up the crimes. Much of his testimony contradicted that of his younger brother, Edward "Jake" Wagner, 30, and his mother, Angela Wagner, 52 — both of whom took plea deals that required them to testify against him and his father, George "Billy" Wagner, whose trial is pending.
"What happens to you if you come in here and admit ... to slaughtering eight perfectly innocent people who were asleep in their beds two of them with babies in the bed ..." Canepa asked Wagner near the end of her questioning.
Wagner: "What happens to anybody is that they should have death given to them."
In her nearly four hours of questioning, Canepa sought to highlight what Wagner IV told state investigators when they stopped the family in May 2017 at the US/Canada border in Montana. Chief among them were:
In 2017, Wagner IV said the family watched a "fairy" movie the night before the killings and everyone went to bed around 12:30 a.m. on April 22, 2016. On the stand, he testified he went to bed around "10-ish." Prosecutors put the first killings shortly after 11 p.m. on April 21. Jake Wagner testified his brother hid with him in the bed of a pickup truck driven by their father and left their home together and the plan was for his brother to shoot Rhoden family patriarch Chris Rhoden, Sr. But when Wagner IV didn't fire his SKS rifle, Jake Wagner testified he grabbed the gun from his brother and shot Rhoden.
In 2017, Wagner IV told investigators that there was no way anyone could leave the Peebles, Ohio farmhouse he shared with his family because his bedroom was on the first floor and he would have heard them leaving and a truck leaving. During his testimony however, he said he never heard anyone leave that night.
In 2017, Wagner IV denied his father used drugs and on the stand he admitted that his father used drugs and also outlined how the family — including himself — routinely stole from semi-trucks and retail stores, committed arson to claim insurance money, siphoned diesel fuel and picked locks.
Wagner IV, who was calm during his testimony, also denied he knew that his brother owned a Colt Walter 1911 .22-caliber gun that experts testified was used to kill five of the eight victims. However, investigators have shown jurors a text message of Jake Wagner’s hand holding the gun in 2018. When he got that text, Wagner IV reacted by sending a text to his brother, Jake. The brothers left work because of a “family emergency.”
On redirect, Wagner IV's lawyer, John Parker, asked his client — as he had the day before — point-blank if he was involved. Wagner IV testified again he didn't know about the killings and wasn't involved and did not believe his family was involved until his brother's guilty plea.
Parker's final question to his client: "Are you telling the truth?"
"Yes."
Wagner IV was the last of the defense witness in the trial, which is in its 11th week.
Lawyers were expected Friday to continue argue about what evidence should be formally entered into the case and available for the jury to view during deliberations.
Watch Wagner IV's continued testimony and cross examination here:
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