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WARREN -- A July 2026 Pew Research poll found that 68% of U.S. adults consider the death penalty justified for those who commit murder, but Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins says it appears Warren-area people think Warren killer Danny Lee Hill and Warren rapist Felicia Beemer deserve the most severe punishment possible, including the death penalty.
Hill and Beemer have been in the news recently, Hill because of an appeals court ruling denying him another chance to argue intellectual disability to erase his death sentence for killing 12-year-old Raymond Fife in 1985, and Beemer coming up for parole soon for raping a child under 1 year old and a child under 2 years old.
Watkins this week said the reaction to the news coverage on social media and elsewhere to Beemer possibly being released showed "overwhelming agreement" that "violent offenders should serve life sentences or even the death penalty."
Watkins also mentioned in a prepared statement that his office has "received support" for the efforts announced last month of two of his top assistant prosecutors to "initiate legislation to reinstate life imprisonment for habitual felons and to increase penalties for repeat drug offenders and non-stop thieves."
But Watkins, Ohio's longest serving elected prosecutor, is also asking the Republican majority and the Democratic minority in the Ohio Legislature to join other states that have passed laws or have pending legislation to allow the death penalty to be considered by juries in predatory criminal sexual assault of young children.
He said to make this happen, a state legal team or federal lawmakers will need to "actively challenge the U.S. Supreme Court's 2008, 5-4 decision in Kennedy v. Louisiana that that found that it is "cruel and unusual punishment" to execute criminals who "rape babies and very young children."
Watkins took note of posts on social media pages of local media outlets about a week ago regarding Beemer, including one that reads: "So why didn't she get the death penalty? Not that (it) makes much of a difference?"
Another read: "There is no forgiving for a rapist, especially a child or minor. The punishments handed out are not enough or nonexistent!!"
Watkins stated he does not use social media platforms and knows social media results are not scientific, but he said there is a "strong history of support in the United States' recent history to reintroduce the death penalty for the worst-of-the-worst child rapists."
He said it is "possible" to enact death penalty laws for child rapists, "but first we must have more determination in Ohio to enforce present death penalty laws like other states are doing."
Beemer raped a girl 8 months old and a boy 18 months old, and she and her husband, Cody Beemer, "recorded these horrifying predatory acts on a cellphone," Watkins stated.
Felicia Beemer was sentenced to 15 years to life on two counts of rape, multiple counts of using a minor in sexually oriented matter and two counts pandering obscenity involving minors.
Watkins stated that across Ohio and the United States,numerous worst-of-the worst child sex offenders are serving life sentences that were death-penalty-eligible-crimes under the Constitution of the United States when it was written. There have been no changes or amendments to the Constitution contrary to that principle, Watkins said.
U.S. Supreme Court justices decide what the "evolving standards of decency" are for the states and federal government, he said. "In effect, (the justices) have overruled both state and federal legislative bodies that decided and put into legal effect" what the standards of decency would be, Watkins stated.
"For many years, it was lawful to execute criminals who raped women and children. It was permissible under our nation's Constitution and laws and Ohio's Constitution and statutes for decades," Watkins stated. "Ohio has upheld its death penalty law, which is in effect today, since our founding in 1803," he added.
Watkins said that in addition to the Beemers, the Ohio prison system houses several other Trumbull County rapists.
One person raped children as young as 4. One livestreamed his rapes of a 6-year-old relative to an undercover officer in Virginia. Another is serving a life in prison sentence who refused treatment for his young victim who was hospitalized and came close to death because of infections. Another child rapist is serving a life sentence who took a "selfie" with an audio-recording of the painful rape of a child asking him to stop.
Watkins stated that in 2015, he wrote to the Ohio Parole Board asking that a rapist not be granted parole for his offenses against a 7-year-old girl in the 1980s who "miraculously escaped death" and "to this day" fears the release of the perpetrator, who got a life sentence.
Watkins said that in the letter, he mentioned the 5-4 vote by the U.S. Supreme Court in Kennedy v. Louisiana that found it to be "cruel and unusual punishment" to execute child rapists.
The letter stated, "Even President Obama said prior to the Supreme Court decision: 'I think that the rape of a small child, 6 or 8 years old, Is a heinous crime and if a state makes a decision that under narrow, limited, well-defined circumstances, the death penalty is at least potentially applicable, that does not violate our Constitution.'
Watkins added, "With one vote the other way, the nation's high court would have permitted under law the death penalty for child rapists." Watkins said at that time he did not think the 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision would reverse itself on the issue.
But, "Today in 2026, it is my view that it is time that the U.S. Supreme Court could do just that," Watkins stated in his new press release.
He cited the following changes proposed or enacted in nine other states:
Indiana: Rep. Andrew Ireland introduced House Bill 1312, which defines "aggravated child molesting" and permits the state to pursue either a death sentence or life imprisonment without parole.
Missouri: Rep. Scott Cupps introduced legislation that would make first-degree child rape, attempted first-degree rape and certain severe child exploitation or trafficking offenses eligible for capital punishment.
Illinois: Sen. Neil Anderson introduced a bill (SB 2.3.2) that proposes reinstating the death penalty in the state specifically for the predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, alongside specific homicide charges.
The following states enacted similar laws: Florida (2023), Idaho (2025), Arkansas (2025), Oklahoma (2025), Alabama (February 2026; effective Oct. 1, 2026), Mississippi (early 2026).
At the federal level. U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina in February introduced the federal Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act, which would authorize capital punishment for aggravated sexual abuse of a minor under federal civilian law as well as under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to Watkins and the Mace web site.