Angela Wagner reads her indictment at the Pike County Courthouse during her arraignment on Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018, in Waverly, Ohio. Wagner, her husband and sons are charged in the shootings of the Rhoden family in 2016. Authorities say the Wagners' case is expected to become one of the state's most expensive, as the costs of the death-penalty trials could reach into the millions of dollars, authorities say. ( Robert McGraw/The Cincinnati Enquirer via AP, Pool)

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The case of four people accused in the slayings of a southern Ohio family is expected to become one of the state’s most expensive legal fights, costing Ohio taxpayers millions of dollars, authorities say.

George Wagner, his wife and two sons are charged with aggravated murder with death-penalty specifications in the shootings of eight members of the Rhoden family in rural Pike County in 2016. The Wagners have denied the allegations, and each has court-appointed attorneys.

Because a county the size of Pike, population 28,000, cannot afford the full financial burden of handling those cases, the state will need to step in.

“We were excited when we heard that [investigators] brought this to an end, but our next thought was, ‘How are we going to pay for it?’ ’’ said Pike County Commissioner Tony Montgomery. “It stinks, but that’s the situation we’re in.’’

Don't Edit

George Wagner IV is escorted out of the courtroom after his arraignment at the Pike County Courthouse, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2018, in Waverly, Ohio. Wagner, his parents and his brother are charged in the 2016 shootings of seven adults and a teenage boy from the Rhoden family. (Robert McGraw/The Cincinnati Enquirer via AP, Pool)

Don't Edit

Pike County’s situation underscores one of the key reasons researchers say death-penalty cases across the nation have dropped dramatically in the past 25 years: The costs to try the cases and fight decades of appeals have increased so quickly and dramatically that they have become a financial liability for many counties.

“Taxpayers across Ohio will have to defray the costs of these trials,’’ said Robert Dunham, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., in discussing the Pike County case.

“From the beginning of the case, from the incarceration, to the defense costs, to the appellate work, it could cost tens of millions of dollars over the course of several years.’’

In addition, there are the costs to prosecute the case.

Interviews and published reports estimate the cost of a death-penalty case, from arrest to lethal injection, in Ohio to be $2 million to $3 million. It would cost about $1.4 million, from arrest, to house a 30-year old inmate the rest of his life in prison, assuming he lives to about 80, according to prison records and estimates.

Don't Edit

Edward "Jake" Wagner enters the courtroom for arraignment in front of Judge Randy Deering at the Pike County Courthouse on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2018, in Waverly, Ohio. (Robert McGraw/The Cincinnati Enquirer via AP, Pool)

Don't Edit

The cost of the Pike County cases would be multiplied by four. Defense attorneys, it should be noted, are planning to argue that the trials should be moved because of the extensive publicity.

Pike County Common Pleas Judge Randy Deering, who is hearing the cases, will decide that issue. The chance of moving the trials is unclear. But if that happens, the county where the trials would be moved to would not be forced to absorb any costs. The costs, in this case, would remain with Pike County. The other county would keep tabs on any expenses and bill Pike County later.

Montgomery said Pike County has a general fund budget of about $10 million a year. He said the county made cuts this year, and he said next year will be much more difficult. And those projections are without the expenses of the Wagner cases.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Fayette County Sheriff's Deputy Corey Boston holds the door as George "Billy" Wagner III entered Fayette County District Court in Lexington, Kentucky, on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018. Authorities arrested Wagner in Lexington in November. He waived extradition and returned to Ohio. (WLEX-TV via AP, Pool)

Don't Edit

The county has spent $600,000 on the two-year investigation alone, Montgomery said, adding that the state has reimbursed the county about $130,000. The Portsmouth Daily Times reported that the money returned to the county went toward the construction of a building to house evidence for state lab technicians. The building stored the trailers where the Rhodens were killed.

David Yost, who becomes the state’s attorney general next month, has discussed possible legislation that would help counties, particularly smaller ones, pay for complicated death-penalty cases.

Don't Edit

Leonard Manley, the father of Dana Rhoden, wears a "Justice for Gilley and the Rhodens" t-shirt during the arraignment of Edward "Jake" Wagner at the Pike County Courthouse on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2018 in Waverly, Ohio. (Robert McGraw/The Chillicothe Gazette via AP, Pool)

Don't Edit

A drop in executions nationally

The Pike County cases come at a time when executions across the country and the push for the death penalty have declined.

A report by the Death Penalty Information Center this month said 25 inmates were executed in the United States in 2018. By comparison, 98 were put to death in 1999, the most in recent years.

One inmate in Ohio was executed this year. Robert Van Hook, 58, of Cincinnati, was put to death in July for robbing and killing a man in 1985.

Ohio has 137 individuals on death row, including 20 from Cuyahoga County. This year, the county indicted two cases of aggravated murder with death-penalty specifications. Last year, it brought five.

“We are trying to save death-penalty specifications for the worst of the worst,’’ said Saleh Awadallah, the supervisor of the homicide/major trial unit of the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office.

He said his office goes through several evaluations on cases to determine whether the death penalty is warranted. It even brings in a suspect’s defense attorneys to explain mitigating factors, such as a client’s extremely low IQ or family issues.

Don't Edit

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, right, alongside Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader, left, during a news conference (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Texas led the nation in 2018 with 13 executions, while Tennessee was next with three.

Dunham said the drop in the number of executions stems partly from a shift in the support of capital punishment.

In the 1990s, Gallup polls showed support for the death penalty in the United States reached 80 percent. This year, it reached 56 percent, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

In Ohio, the drop in executions comes at a time when the number of sentences of life without parole have spiked.

In January 2010, 283 inmates were serving sentences of life without parole. Last month, there were 657, a jump of 132 percent.

Don't Edit

Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader speaks during a news conference. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Don't Edit

Michael Benza, a senior instructor at the Case Western Reserve School of Law, said costs play a major role in death-penalty cases. He said inmates who are convicted of aggravated murder and are sentenced to life without parole can file appeals, but they are seldom, if ever, as lengthy as death-penalty appellate fights that involve state and federal courts.

“The economics of the death penalty are completely out of whack compared to the rest of the justice system,’’ Benza said. “The logistical costs for these cases add up very, very quickly.

“In capital cases, the law and Constitution provide significant avenues for litigation and include rights to counsel that non-death penalty cases do not provide. This adds to both the exponential increase in costs, as well as length of litigation.’’

Dunham said it is a simple question of priorities: “What is the best use of taxpayers’ money?’’

Timothy McGinty, a former Cuyahoga County prosecutor and judge, sought the death penalty in only a handful of cases when he served as county prosecutor from 2012 to 2016. In the Pike County cases, he said there should be no discussion.

“If you don’t go after the death penalty in that case, a diabolical, coordinated series of murders, then you aren’t following the law,’’ McGinty said. “The costs cannot be a factor for a prosecutor. That’s up to the legislature to find the money. The legislature drew up the law. The prosecutor has to follow it.

“If you are the prosecutor, you have to ask yourself, ‘Is this the most god-awful crime there is?’ Believe me, it is not for every case. But for the most heinous crimes, the prosecutor has no choice.’’

Don't Edit

Mourners arrive at Dry Run Church of Christ for funeral services for six of the eight murder victims from Pike County, Tuesday, May 3, 2016, in West Portsmouth. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Don't Edit

Slayings of the Rhoden family

In November, authorities announced the arrests of George Wagner, his wife Angela and sons George and Edward "Jake" in what authorities have called one of the worst crimes in Ohio.

They are accused of breaking into homes owned by the Rhoden family and killing Dana, 37; her former husband, Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40; their daughter, Hanna, 19; son Christopher, 16; and son Clarence, 20.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

In this April 22, 2016, file photo, authorities set up roadblocks at the perimeter of one of four properties near Piketon where seven adults and a 16-year-old boy from the Rhoden family were found shot to death, at the intersection of Union Hill Road and Route 32 in Pike County. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

Don't Edit

Also killed were Christopher Sr.’s brother, Kenneth, 44; their cousin, Gary, 38; and Hannah Gilley, 20, who was Clarence’s fiancée. The slayings were a coordinated attack that took place in the early morning hours while the Rhoden family slept, authorities said.

Mike DeWine, the state attorney general who will become Ohio's governor next month, told reporters at a news conference last month that Hanna Rhoden and Jake Wagner had a child together, and he suggested that the custody of the child was the reason behind the slayings.

The child was not harmed, as she was not at the Rhodens’ residences at the time of the attacks, DeWine said. Published news reports said that she has been placed with children’s services.