Danny Lee Hill

Staff report

WARREN — Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins has asked Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to investigate potential overreach by the Federal Public Defender’s Office in the state court case of Danny Lee Hill, according to a letter from Watkins’ office.

The Ohio Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments Oct. 22 regarding a Trumbull County appeal of a ruling allowing Hill to re-litigate legal issues.

Watkins also questioned the qualifications of the federal public defenders, stating they lack the necessary credentials for Ohio death penalty cases and noting that one of Hill’s attorneys is not licensed in Ohio. The matter has been referred to Yost’s office for review.

Watkins claims the Capital Litigation Division of the Federal Public Defender’s Office, acting as “counsel of record” under a federal court mandate, may violate principles of federalism by intervening in Hill’s state death penalty appeals.

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office, through its Tenth Amendment Center, is authorized under Ohio Revised Code to monitor federal actions for adherence to the U.S. Constitution’s Tenth Amendment.

A three-judge panel in Trumbull County found Hill guilty in 1986 of the Sept. 10, 1985, kidnapping, torture, rape and murder of 12-year-old Raymond Fife as the boy was headed to a Boy Scouts meeting on the southwest side of Warren. Hill was later sentenced to death.

For nearly 40 years, Hill has had 30 appeals involving both the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office and several different Ohio attorney generals’ staff, including the Solicitor General’s Office, in both state and federal court, delaying his execution.

All the appeals have been found to be without merit.

The Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office defended Hill’s aggravated murder conviction and death sentence before both the 11th District Court of Appeals and the Ohio Supreme Court, including Hill’s initial Atkins claim in Common Pleas Court and appeal before the 11th District Appeals Court, in November 2023.

An Atkins claim is when a person claims to be mentally challenged and ineligible for the death penalty.

Hill’s appointed federal public defenders had previously carried on claims of intellectual disability to the federal district court and repeatedly in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, including before an “en banc” or full panel of all the appellate judges and then to the U.S. Supreme Court.

After years of federal litigation, the State of Ohio’s position, defended by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and the Office of the Solicitor General, was ultimately upheld by the federal court.

Watkins’ office filed a motion to halt the Federal Public Defender’s efforts to delay Hill’s execution, citing new motions for post-conviction relief and a new trial based on a witness who stated she did not see anything related to the crime.