Ohio AG’s office no longer wants to be involved in Pike County homicide cases

News Center 7 has learned that the Attorney General’s office no longer wants to be involved in the prosecution of the Wagner family.

It was four years ago in April that someone killed eight members of the Rhoden family and two years since the attorney general’s office charged members of the Wagner family.

According to our news partners at WCPO-TV in Cincinnati, one of their reporters, Courtney Francisco, talked to the deputy attorney general who said the special prosecutors are no longer needed in Pike County. She said the local attorneys are capable of covering the case.

Deputy Attorney General Carol O’Brien told the judge, “this case, as everyone knows, is very, very important to the people of Pike County, to the family members as well as the state of Ohio. It’s important to have a unified folks working together like Prosecutor Junk and Ms. Canepa have been doing.”

O’Brien was chief counsel on the case, working with county prosecutors Robert Junk and Angela Canepa, WCPO-TV said.

According to O’Brien, conflict requires the attorney general’s office to step away. And, that stuck with defense attorneys.

Jake Wagner’s defense attorney, Greg Meyers, said, “I think we need Ms. O’Brien to clarify if that was a carefully crafted use of the word conflict and if so, what do you mean?”

According to WCPO-TV, O’Brien said today there was no disagreement on the charges or evidence.

“The conflict is, comes in when you’re talking about having the prosecutor’s office, the contractor for the prosecutor’s office and the Attorney General’s Office all trying to work on a case,” O’Brien said.

Prosecutors said Jake Wagner, his parents – Billy and Angela – and his brother, George Wagner, developed a plan to kill the Rhoden’s in April of 2016 because of a custody battle of the child Jake had with Hannah Wagner.

Jake and Billy Wagner both appeared in court today for pre-trial hearings. According to O’Brien, the Rhoden family agrees with the AG’s withdrawal.

“We met with the family members who on no uncertain terms let us know they want Ms. Canepa to continue on this case because they appreciated what she’s done,” O’Brien said.

The judge approved this in Jake and Billy Wagner’s case. But will have to ask attorney’s in the other four cases before deciding whether the attorney general’s office can withdraw from those, WCPO-TV said.

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