OHIO MAN SENTENCED TO LIFE FOR KILLINGS OF 8 IN FAMILY

George Washington Wagner IV, one of the people at the center of eight coldblooded killings that devastated a southern Ohio family, was sentenced Monday to an equal number of consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole.

Wagner, 31, stood with his hands in the pockets of his jeans and his head tilted down as Pike County Common Pleas Judge Randy Deering imposed the sentence, which included another 121 years imprisonment on lesser charges.

“The court finds no remorse has been shown, only denial,” Deering told Wagner, who took the stand in his own defense late last month and testified he knew nothing about his relatives’ 2016 plot to kill members of the Rhoden family over the custody of a shared child.

Wagner’s brother, Edward “Jake” Wagner, and their mother, Angela Wagner, testified against him during the nearly 13-week jury trial — as part of plea agreements they reached separately with prosecutors last year. Jurors convicted him on all 22 counts in about seven hours. His father, George “Billy” Wagner, 51, has pleaded not guilty to the same charges and will face trial sometime next year.

Richard Nash, one of the younger Wagner’s lawyers, said his client “maintains his innocence’’ and will appeal. Jake Wagner testified that his brother did not kill any of the victims but was involved in the planning.

Many were shot as they slept, including two mothers with infants. They included Christopher “Chris” Rhoden Sr.; his ex-wife, Dana Manley Rhoden; their children, Clarence “Frankie” Rhoden, Hanna May Rhoden, and Christopher “Chris” Rhoden Jr.; Frankie’s fiancée, Hannah Hazel Gilley; Christopher Sr.’s brother, Kenneth Rhoden; and a cousin, Gary Rhoden.