WAVERLY, Ohio — Court began Tuesday morning with a hearing during which the prosecution and defense will argue which evidentiary items presented in the prosecution's case will be entered into evidence for the jury.
The hearing is a typical procedure held after the prosecution rests its case — which happened Thursday, before court adjourned for a long weekend.
George Wagner IV — along with his mother Angela, father George "Billy" Wagner and brother Edward "Jake" Wagner — is accused of shooting and killing the Rhoden family members "execution-style." The family's bodies were found on April 22, 2016. He faces eight charges of aggravated murder, along with other charges associated with tampering with evidence, conspiracy and forgery.
Found dead that day were 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden Sr., 37-year-old Dana Rhoden, 20-year-old Hannah "Hazel" Gilley, 16-year-old Christopher Rhoden Jr., 20-year-old Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, 37-year-old Gary Rhoden, 19-year-old Hanna May Rhoden, and 44-year-old Kenneth Rhoden.
The trial is the first time a person has faced a jury for the deaths of the Rhoden family six years ago.
During court Monday, the prosecution moved to admit the thousands of exhibits presented during its case. Defense attorneys are able to object to items one final time. What is officially admitted will be available to the jury during their deliberation.
Defense attorneys can also request the evidence prosecution entered be examined to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction during the hearing. If the evidence is found to be insufficient, defense attorneys can request their client be acquitted of the charges.
Defense and prosecution began debating the evidence at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning and by noon, when the jury was instructed to arrive, they'd only covered three of four crime scenes; other physical evidence and autopsy-related evidence still has to be debated.
During the hearing, defense attorney John Parker presented several photos of the crime scenes and victims to which they objected. Judge Randy Deering went through each item one by one, determining which would be available to the jury and which would be thrown out.
In particular, Parker focused on photographs of the murder victims he called "unnecessarily gruesome," citing there was prejudicial danger in giving the jury repeated photos of the victims' wounds. Deering agreed that duplicated photos that showed roughly the same thing should be thrown out, but many of the images Parker sought to quash were still allowed to be entered.
Also a focus were images showing items that didn't pertain to the murder case; photos taken by crime scene investigators of unrelated items like vehicles, a sledgehammer in the yard of Frankie's home, a pair of pliers and other random items were thrown out because of their lack of relevancy. Angela Canepa, special prosecutor, argued the photographs showed how thorough investigators were, combating any possible claims that they ignored evidence at any of the crime scenes.
"It's not part of the crime, it's not part of anything, it's just random debris in the back yard," said Parker.
Other duplicated photos of the scenes were also thrown out, particularly those that repeatedly depicted areas of the crime scene that were ultimately deemed irrelevant, like shots of vehicles parked in garages and duplicated wide shots of the yards.
Parker argued that photos taken inside the crime scenes were also irrelevant, such as images of bathrooms, hallways, spare bedrooms and laundry rooms; Canepa said the images were intended to help the jury understand the layout of the homes, particularly to understand how members of the Wagner family navigated them the night of the homicides.
Deering allowed individual photos of these scenes to be entered into evidence, but he determined duplicate shots should be thrown out.
A photo of a sweatshirt found in Frankie and Hannah Hazel's yard was removed from consideration, as well as other shots of items collected as evidence after the murders but ultimately found to be irrelevant.
Canepa and Parker clashed over whether images of cigarette butts found in yards at two of the crime scenes should be allowed.
"Whatever, if you want cigarette butts in your case, fine, but they have nothing to do with it," said Parker.
At Frankie and Hannah Hazel's home, cigarette butts were collected, tested and found to have no useful DNA on them. Deering ruled images of those cigarette butts should not be entered into evidence.
Images of cigarette butts collected from the third crime scene, where Dana, Hanna May and Chris Jr. were murdered, were allowed to be entered despite Parker's objections, because they'd been tested and found to have DNA belonging to Hanna May on them.
At noon, attorneys decided to spend the afternoon calling witnesses subpoenaed by the defense, putting the evidence debate on hold.
The first witness called to the stand was Bernard Brown, who owned the property in Peebles, Ohio, where the Wagner family parked several trailers packed with their belongings while they traveled to Alaska.
Brown opted out of being recorded during his testimony.
During his testimony, Brown said he allowed the Wagner family to store their belongings on his property after they sold their farm on Peterson Road. He knew the Wagner family because Jake, George and Billy would help him haul livestock west.
"All the time that I knew them, I never so much as heard a cuss word out of any of them," he said.
While on the road hauling livestock, he spent days at a time with George and Jake; when Brown was diagnosed with cancer, the brothers helped him by hauling his cattle and servicing his truck, he said.
Brown said in the time working for him, George was never aggressive or hostile.
"I would be glad to have him back," he said.
Next, the defense called Alex Staley to the stand; Staley is married to Samantha Staley, who testified earlier in the trial during the prosecution's case.
Staley said he met George through his wife when, at one point, the couple had issues with a vehicle they owned and his wife suggesting asking George for help, because he was a mechanic.
After that, he said he saw George a few times, including a time he took another troublesome vehicle to the Wagner farm for George to examine. He and his wife also went fishing with George once at Lake White, in Waverly.
"I considered him a friend," said Staley.
The fishing trip took place around two weeks after the homicides, Staley said.
The topic of the eight murders came up while they fished and Staley said George had been friends with Frankie. During the discussion, he said George became emotional.
"He started tearing up and got really sad about it," he said.
The conversation concluded not long after that, he said.
His wife told the jury about that same fishing trip earlier in the trial, recounting that George wasn't the same person after the homicides. She said she'd mentioned the murders while they fished and had been told to "shut the eff up" by George.
During cross examination from the prosecution, Staley said he'd known George for a total of five years — including the last four years during which George has been in jail awaiting trial. The two would talk for hours while working on vehicles together, but he conceded that there weren't many total interactions between himself and the defendant.
Staley said he'd also known Frankie, though he'd had fewer interactions with him than with George.
After Staley stepped down from the stand, the jury was dismissed for the day — having been in court for just over an hour total.
The court then spent the rest of the day resuming the debate over evidence, combing through exhibits section by section and arguing objections posited by the defense.
During the second part of the hearing, Parker again argued objections to shell casings found on the Peterson Road farm that were not connected to murder weapons used to kill the Rhodens. The prosecution maintained the shell casings matched calibers of guns found on a list of firearms pulled from Jake's cellphone; George and Jake tried, while being listened to by law enforcement, to state the list was just a wish list, not a catalogue of guns actually owned by the Wagner family. Jake testified this wasn't true. The prosecution argued the shell casings helped prove the list was of guns owned by the Wagners, since guns of those calibers were fired at Peterson Road, leaving the shell casings behind.
After a lengthy debate, Deering ultimately overruled the objection, allowing all the shell casings to be admitted into evidence; he previously overruled Parker's objections to the jury seeing those evidentiary items throughout the state's case.
You can read recaps of each day of the trial in our coverage below:
- No jury Monday as defense and prosecution argue over evidence
- The prosecution rests its case after playing final wiretap recordings
- 'We get electrocuted...it's your fault," George told his brother in wiretap
- Jury dismissed early again over disagreements on wiretap recordings
- Prosecution tries to tie murder plot to movie plot
- Trial postponed to Monday over evidentiary issues
- Murders were about protection, not custody, said Angela
- Angela told the prosecution bloody shoeprints belonged to George
- Angela Wagner called to stand, opted out of recording
- Investigators describe recovering, testing murder weapons
- Jake Wagner finishes testimony as seventh week of trial wrapped up
- Photos of murder weapons are shown for first time as Jake testifies for third day
- Jake Wagner 'could not bear to think' or speak about his crimes after the murders
- 'I felt I had no other choice than to kill Hanna,' Jake Wagner told jury
- 'I was afraid they were going to kill me,' Jake's ex-wife testifies
- Texts between Hanna Rhoden and Jake Wagner detail ongoing custody argument
- Witnesses describe intertwined Wagner finances and a device found inside a well
- Clandestine recordings made by Jake, Wagner family finances presented
- Wire taps played for jury as court enters sixth week of testimony
- George Wagner IV's grandmother testifies
- Interview with Angela played for jury, Angela's half brother takes stand
- Texts highlight Wagner family dynamic, purchases for possible silencer
- Dozens of guns collected in search of Flying W Farm, but no murder weapons
- Jury shown evidence collected from Wagner belongings
- Evidence collected on Wagner property presented
- BCI agents testified to evidence
- Ex-wife of George Wagner IV describes 'strange and controlling' Wagner home
- Jury hears from George Wagner IV's ex-wife as fourth week of testimony begins
- Family members tearfully describe the day of the homicides
- Bloody shoe prints, cell phone records are focus
- Experts testify about ballistics, shoeprint evidence
- Third week of trial moves on to Kenneth Rhoden's home
- Evidence presented from third crime scene
- Scene where Dana, Chris. Jr and Hanna May Rhoden were killed is focus
- Testimony focuses on second of four crime scenes
- Coroner describes two of eight victims autopsied
- Forensic testimony continues into Monday
- Forensic evidence takes center stage
- Testimony centers on Kenneth Rhoden, final victim discovered
- Emergency responders testify about chaotic scenes
- Witnesses describe discovering their family members' bodies
- Opening statements detail grisly moments in the six-year-old murder case
- Read a full timeline of the Pike County murder investigation
You can watch Thursday's proceedings in the player below:
Watch opening statements below:
