Lawyers must send a written request, through the court for a witness to testify in a trial. The first several batches of those summons went out before the trial started.
Most reporters do not attend court every day, as some testimony is less newsworthy than other testimony but is legally necessary. So, reporters and editors watch for subpoenas to be filed as one way to determine the likely order that witnesses will testify as a kind of map to guide them to when they need to be in the courtroom and how the prosecutors will lay out their case.
In this case, more than a dozen people have been called to be available to testify during the first few weeks of the trial. They include family members of the victims and the suspects, state investigators and crime scene analysts. Among the witnesses that media will likely want to hear from are:
The people who discovered the bodies of the Rhoden family members:
Bobby Jo Manley: The sister of victim, Dana Manley Rhoden. She found the first four victims and called 911 to report the crimes. She is likely one of the first people who will testify in the case. She recounted what she found in two interviews with me in 2016.
Emma and Billy Morgan: Wife and husband, the Morgans were with Bobby Jo Manley when she drove from her home to Chris Rhoden, Sr.'s trailer around 8 a.m. on April 22, 2016.
James Manley: The brother of Bobby Jo and Dana Rhoden. Manley went to Dana's trailer to check on them after Bobby Jo called her father to tell him about her family members' death. James Manley went to his sister's trailer that morning. Officials have said Jake Wagner, one of those charged, text with Manley in the early morning hours of the killings.
April Manley: James Manley's wife.
Donald Stone: The cousin to the Rhoden family, he is the man who went to check on Kenneth Rhoden and found him dead with one gunshot to the eye.
Members of the Wagner family:
Fredericka Wagner: Is the mother of accused father Billy Wagner and grandmother to George Wagner IV and Jake Wagner. Prosecutors initially charged her with aiding and abetting, but later dismissed those charges. Billy Wagner was living with his mother on her nearly 2,000-acre horse farm when his family was under suspicion in the killings. Officials searched her farm several times and found the weapons prosecutors will allege were used in the homicides on a pond on her farm.
Chris Newcomb: Angela's Wagner's brother.
Bob Wagner: Billy Wagner's brother.
Rita Newcomb: Angela Wagner's mother, who was charged with forging custody documents related to the case, pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge. During her plea hearing, she said: “I just feel it is not a Christian thing to lie. And I couldn’t live with it no more."
Key investigators:
The coroners: 'The victim's bodies were taken nearly 90 minutes north to Hamilton County where autopsies were performed on each. Heavily redacted autopsy reports were released. But the forensic pathologists are expected to provide more details about where each victim was shot. This testimony is needed to prove cause (gunshot wounds) and manner (homicide) of each death.
Special agents with the Ohio of Bureau of Criminal Investigation: Dozens of investigators are expected to be called — including crime scene experts, computer forensic scientists as well as several investigators who interviewed the Wagners several times.
Pike County special investigator Tracy Evans (who is now currently running for county sheriff).
Questions for students:
Where would you find subpoenas? Be specific.
What questions do you have?
Where would you find subpoenas? Be specific.
I would use both use the resources around me, the county clerks and uscourts.gov (or any other source like it). The county clerks should be able to give me the list is able depending on state and if not using the internet should lead me somewhere.
What questions do you have?
What is your approach toward finding certain details within the background of a case?
1. You can find a subpoena online at uscourts.gov. The information is available to the public upon all cases.
2. Have you received unknown information from a subpoena? Is most of the information on subpoenas mostly just information that is already out in the public?
To find subpoenas from what I found I could access them from https://www.uscourts.gov/ or register for a PACER account and find them through there. I could also contact court clerks who would know where or how I could find them as well.
A question I have is, what kind of questions are they going to ask the people giving the testimony, or what more can they offer that has not been said?
Where would you find subpoenas? Be specific.
To find a subpoena, I might talk to the court clerks. According to the Nebraska legislature website, court clerks file subpoenas. There are also online resources where I might be able to find subpoenas, such as uscourts.gov or courtcasefinder.com.
What questions do you have?
Why were the autopsy reports "heavily redacted?" Why did prosecutors dismiss charges against Fredericka Wagner? What is a subpoena? If it's a written document, why does the title say watching subpoenas is important?
From what I have found, it looks like we can use uscourts.gov to get any information on a case that is offered to the public. For further documents and information, we can make an account in PACER and find more information through that website as well. Lastly, it looks like uscourts.gov also has an article on how journalists can access documents like subpoenas.
After getting the subpoena how do you decide/know which testimonies are going to be newsworthy to go to?