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WARREN -- The Ohio Supreme Court will not give Danny Lee Hill a chance to argue for a new trial.
The state's highest court Wednesday declined to hear Hill's appeal of a prior court order denying him a new trial, according to the Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office.
"The Ohio Supreme Court, which reviewed and rejected Hill's other appeals, has once again declined to review Hill's latest attempt to delay enforcement of his death sentence in state courts," Dennis Watkins, county prosecutor, stated in a news release.
Hill was sentenced to death in 1986 after being convicted of torturing, raping and murdering Raymond Fife, 12, in Warren. Hill was 18 when Fife was killed.
Hill tried to get a new trial in 2016, claiming new science in bite-mark evidence might exonerate him. Visiting Judge Patricia Cosgrove ruled in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court there was enough evidence to convict Hill even if the bite-mark science was challenged and dismissed his request for the new trial. Fife's body was bitten by his attackers.
The 11th District Court of Appeals upheld Cosgrove's ruling and by refusing to hear the appeal, Ohio's Supreme Court lets it stand.
"These decisions recognize the need for the finality of judgment, especially in these cases where guilt was established fairly by state and court judges or juries," Watkins wrote.
Hill has filed numerous appeals since his death penalty sentence was handed down, including some claiming he should not be executed because of intellectual disabilities.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year an earlier decision by the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that removed Hill from death row on his claims he has an intellectual disability should not stand.
The Sixth Circuit was ordered to reconsider Hill's claim regarding intellectual disability by evaluating his case "based solely on holdings of this court that were clearly established at the relevant time," the opinion states.
Other hearings have found Hill does not meet the criteria to avoid the death penalty.
The Sixth Circuit could find a different reason the death penalty shouldn't be applied to Hill.
On Tuesday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and state solicitor Ben Flowers filed a 55-page brief in the Sixth Circuit, according to Watkins.
Oral arguments are expected in the fall in the court in Cincinnati, according to Watkins.
Hill's co-defendant, Timothy Combs, was 50 when he died in prison. He was 17 at the time of Fife's murder and not eligible for the death penalty.
rfox@tribtoday.com