WAVERLY, Ohio — The judge overseeing the capital murder case against George “Billy” Wagner III has refused to tell the surviving members of the Rhoden family where the final defendant in the 2016 Pike County massacre will stand trial, ruling Tuesday that victims are not entitled to know the new venue before the state and defense are formally notified.
In a three-page judgment entry filed Aug. 18, visiting Judge Jonathan P. Hein overruled a motion filed one day earlier by attorney Morgan Galle on behalf of victim representative Tony Rhoden, who argued the family cannot challenge the court’s decision to move the trial out of Pike County — or demonstrate the hardship the move would create — without knowing where the trial is going.
Hein disagreed, writing that the court rejects the position that the particular venue must be identified before a victim can explain the hardship. The judge said he has heard the family’s concerns about travel distances and lodging costs “on several occasions” and that no new facts were presented in the latest motion.
The ruling also confirmed, for the first time in a written entry, that every county adjoining Pike County has been eliminated from consideration as a trial site — a determination Hein said he conveyed to the parties during a July 28 conference call. The court has maintained since November 2024 that pretrial publicity saturates not only Pike County but the surrounding region.
If family members cannot attend in person, Hein wrote, the court will consider alternatives including “commonly used remote attendance methods” and allowing Rhoden’s counsel to participate on site throughout the trial. He dismissed Galle’s reliance on Maryland case law as “misguided,” pointing to Ohio’s statutory and case authority favoring remote attendance.
Hein concluded that no record exists showing the victims were denied fairness, respect or timely notice under Marsy’s Law, the 2017 victims’ rights amendment to the Ohio Constitution. The venue, he wrote, will be disclosed to the victims at the same time notice is provided to the state and the defense.
The entry notes the family may be entitled to an appeal or an extraordinary writ under state law — a path Galle has previously signaled the family may pursue. Any such appeal could threaten the trial date, now set for Jan. 11, 2027.
Depending on the location, once revealed, it may be too late for the family to appeal the location if it’s too far, sources close to the case said on Thursday.
A judge repeatedly reversed
The ruling is the latest flashpoint in a case that has seen Hein, a retired Darke County judge assigned by the Ohio Supreme Court in 2023, repeatedly at odds with special prosecutor Angela Canepa and the victims’ families — and repeatedly reversed by the state’s Fourth District Court of Appeals.
In November 2024, on the same day he granted the defense’s request to move the trial, Hein dismissed the death penalty specifications against Wagner from the bench, citing concerns about delays and litigation. Canepa appealed, alleging judicial malfeasance, and in January the Fourth District reinstated capital punishment, finding Hein abused his discretion and that “no sound reasoning process” supported his decision. The Ohio Supreme Court declined in July to hear Wagner’s appeal of that ruling, with Justice Patrick F. Fischer casting the lone vote to take the case.
In June, the appeals court dealt Hein another rebuke, vacating the sentences he imposed on Wagner’s ex-wife, Angela Wagner, and youngest son, Edward “Jake” Wagner. Hein sentenced the pair in early 2025 — before they testified against Billy Wagner, as their 2021 plea agreements require — and gave Jake Wagner life with parole eligibility after 32 years rather than the agreed-upon life without parole. The Fourth District found the trial court “abused its discretion” and ordered new sentencing hearings once both complete their cooperation with the state.
The Fourth District has also addressed victims’ rights in the case directly, and Hein cited that decision, State v. Wagner, 2025-Ohio-435, in Tuesday’s entry.
The massacre
Billy Wagner, 55, is the last of four family members to face trial in the April 22, 2016, execution-style slayings of seven members of the Rhoden family and Hannah Gilley at three mobile homes and a camper near Piketon.
Killed were Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40; his ex-wife, Dana Rhoden, 37; their children Clarence “Frankie” Rhoden, 20, Hanna May Rhoden, 19, and Christopher Rhoden Jr., 16; Frankie Rhoden’s fiancée, Hannah Gilley, 20; Christopher Rhoden Sr.’s brother, Kenneth Rhoden, 44; and a cousin, Gary Rhoden, 38. Three young children were spared.
Prosecutors say the killings stemmed from a custody dispute over the daughter of Jake Wagner and Hanna May Rhoden. Jake Wagner and Angela Wagner pleaded guilty in 2021 and testified for the state at the 2022 trial of the eldest son, George Wagner IV, who was convicted by a Pike County jury after a three-month trial and sentenced to eight life terms plus 121 years. His appeal is pending.
Billy Wagner has pleaded not guilty to all 22 counts, including eight counts of aggravated murder, and has been jailed since his November 2018 arrest. He is being held without bond at the Pickaway County Jail.