WAVERLY, Ohio — After a flurry of court filings in the past month, a sentencing date has again been set for some members of the Wagner family, ahead of Wagner patriarch Billy's trial, according to court records in Pike County.
Edward "Jake" Wagner, his mother, Angela, and his grandmother, Rita Newcomb, are all scheduled to be sentenced at 10 a.m. on Jan. 3.
A previous sentencing date had been set for Jake and Angela, but that was canceled amid multiple filings in the case.
Prosecutors filed a request on December 10 asking the Supreme Court of Ohio to disqualify Judge Jonathan Hein from the Pike County cases.
That request was denied on December 23, court records show.
The same day, Hein re-scheduled Jake and Angela's sentencing hearings for Jan. 3. There will also be a hearing in George "Billy" Wagner III's case that same day, scheduled for 1 p.m., court records show.
Court records show Billy's trial is still scheduled to begin on January 6, though it's unclear whether this is still a date the court can meet.
Hein announced to the courtroom during a November 20 hearing that he planned to throw out the death penalty in Billy's case before trial begins, and officially sentence other members of the Wagner family.
Both Jake and Angela made complicated plea deals with the state in 2021 and have yet to be sentenced, since those deals hinged on testifying during any trials tied to the murders — including Billy's.
In the deal with Angela, prosecutors agreed to drop eight charges of aggravated murder in exchange for the plea, and recommended she serve 30 years in prison with no early release.
Jake's guilty plea is more complicated: He pleaded guilty to 18 counts, including aggravated murder. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss the possibility of the death penalty for all members of the Wagner family in exchange for Jake's testimony at any trials. He could still receive up to eight consecutive life sentences for the murders.
Now, with the death penalty no longer on the table for Billy and the prosecution's main witnesses scheduled for sentencing, it's unclear whether Jake or Angela will still have to testify at Billy's trial.
Billy is the final member of the Wagner family awaiting trial for the 2016 murders of eight members of the Rhoden and Gilley families.
He's accused of shooting and killing the victims "execution-style." The family's bodies were found on April 22, 2016. Billy 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.
Billy's son, George Wagner IV, stood trial in 2022 and was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Jake and Angela both agreed to plead guilty in 2021.
Newcomb, Angela's mother, was charged with obstructing justice and forgery charges in 2018 and also took a plea deal in 2019.
Further complicating the case, Hein has also decided to rule in favor of defense attorney's requests to move Billy's upcoming trial out of Pike County. On November 25, Hein ruled there has been too much public and media interest in the case to seat an impartial jury.
"The court finds that the intense scope of media coverage in this case — and other closely related cases — was so pervasive that prejudice is presumed," reads Hein's decision. "The small population of Pike County and the intense media coverage leads the court to conclude that no jury could truthfully answer that they have no prior knowledge of the horrendous factors of this case."
So far, where exactly Billy will face trial has not yet been announced.
