Inmate disputes death sentence for 29th time

Danny Lee Hill’s lawyers file new legal action

WARREN -- Danny Lee Hill's attorneys brought new legal action to court earlier this week that will warrant another hearing in his bid to escape execution after being sentenced more than 37 years ago.

The 11th District Court of Appeals heard Hill's latest argument in hopes to overturn his death sentence based on his claim of having an intellectual disability.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled it would exempt him from the death penalty.

Senior Assistant Ohio Attorney General Stephen Maher argued for the state to uphold a decision made earlier this year by Judge Patricia Cosgrove, who ruled she would not order a new hearing to determine whether Hill is mentally disabled.

Maher has worked with Trumbull Prosecutor Dennis Watkins and his staff for more than 20 years on many of Hill's appeals, the prosecutor's office said.

During Thursday's hearing, the argument from Hill's public defenders largely centered on the recently adopted legal and medical standards, which were not in existence at the time of Hill's initial claims of mental retardation, according to the prosecutors office.

The three-judge panel will consider the arguments before rendering a decision at a later time.

Hill and co-defendant Tim Combs tortured, raped and killed Raymond Fife, 12, in Warren in 1985 as he was heading to a Boy Scout meeting on the southwest side of Warren.

A three-judge panel in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court ruled Hill should get the death penalty. Hill's death sentence remains intact with an execution date of July 22, 2026.

Combs died in prison in 2018 while serving multiple life sentences.

Since being given the death penalty nearly four decades ago, Hill has sought review three times before the U.S. Supreme Court and his case has come before the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals multiple times.

In August, an 11-3 vote of the full Sixth Circuit court reversed Hill's bid to have his death sentence overturned on the grounds of "new claim" of an old argument regarding bite mark evidence.

Thursday's hearing was another constitutional claim that has been repeatedly litigated in state and federal courts, where Hill already has lost.