George "Billy" Wagner III, the final defendant in the 2016 Pike County massacre case, is due back in court Oct. 1 for the first time since January.
He asked for a hearing in advance of the anticipated Jan. 11, 2027, start of his murder trial to argue for his recent motion to fire his attorney. He also asked for a hearing in a separate filing lamenting that he did not know what was going on his case.
Those are among the topics that could be on the table in the decade-old, eight-person homicide that shocked Ohio.
A final matter still lingering three months before trial: Its location. The visiting judge handling the case granted a change of venue in November 2024 but has yet to reveal a new location.
Wagner could represent himself in court on motion
Wagner, held in county jails since his November
2018 arrest, filed a handwritten motion Sept. 18 saying he wanted to dismiss his attorney because "he does not believe in my innocents" (sic) and will not submit court filings Wagner wants.
If Visiting Judge Jonathan Hein takes up that motion on Oct. 1, Wagner will speak for himself since he submitted his motion "pro se," Latin for "on one's own behalf."
"He's on his own arguing," said Mike Allen, a former Hamilton County prosecutor familiar with the Pike County case.
It is not unusual for a defendant with a court-appointed attorney to seek new counsel, Allen said. But under Ohio law, he said, the defendant must prove a conflict of interest with the attorney, a breakdown in the relationship or ineffective representation.
"It's got to be for good cause," he said.
Judges, in general, are more willing to appoint new attorneys earlier in cases, he added.
Wagner's lead attorney, Mark Collins, has declined comment on his client's motion.
Earlier witnesses painted Wagner as mastermind
Wagner, 55, entered a not guilty plea to eight counts of aggravated homicide and 14 related charges in the April 2016 shooting deaths of seven members of Pike County's Rhoden family and one future member.
Wagner was the mastermind of the plot to kill the Rhodens, according to witnesses in son George Wagner IV's trial on the same charges.
Wagner IV was convicted in a 2022 jury trial. Wagner's other son, Edward "Jake" Wagner, and wife, Angela Wagner, both confessed to their roles in the crimes in 2021. They are expected to testify in Billy Wagner's trial, and will be formally sentenced after that.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Final suspect in 2016 Pike County massacre case returns to court
