COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio’s attorney general says the state should cover the majority of the costs for prosecuting the four suspects in the slayings of eight people in an Ohio county.

Officials in Pike County estimate they’ll spend well over $1 million on the upcoming cases involving the 2016 killings of eight members of the Rhoden family

State Attorney General Dave Yost said Thursday he doesn’t want the costs to cripple the small county in southern Ohio.

He feels the state should pick up all of the costs, outside of salaries for those handling the case.

State lawmakers would need to approve that spending.

Ohio lawmakers at the end of last year already agreed to provide an initial $100,000 to help pay for the trials of four family members charged in the killings.