Danny Lee Hill’s latest challenge to conviction nixed
01Court rejects intellectual disability defense
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WARREN -- The Ohio 11th District Court of Appeals on Monday affirmed the 2023 decision of a visiting judge in denying death row inmate Danny Lee Hill's bid to file a second postconviction relief petition challenging his death sentence on the grounds that Hill was intellectually disabled.
The ruling written by Judge John J. Eklund states: "(State law) is clear. A trial court is without authority to consider a second or successive petition for postconviction relief unless there are facts on which the petitioner (Hill) must rely and which the petitioner was unavoidably prevented from discovering, or the U.S. Supreme Court has created a new federal or state right that applies retroactively. Neither circumstance adheres in this case based on the record before us."
Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins applauded the decision, also noting the "long line" of federal and state courts that have denied Hill's attempt to escape execution.
Watkins stated that Hill's victims -- Miriam Fife and family -- "will not need to go back to court and listen to more experts." Watkins added: "This should end the litigation on Hill's alleged low-IQ defense."
The new ruling comes on the heels of a new Pew Research survey showing support of the death penalty is growing, Watkins said, noting that the July 6-12, 2026, poll shows 66% of Americans now favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder.
The Ohio Supreme Court on April 23, 2026, remanded the case back to the 11th District court. The ruling stated there were no new facts that Hill was intellectually disabled, only a new opinion, advanced by the federal public defender's office, based upon the old facts.
In her decision, Judge Patricia Cosgrove, noting the delays in the case caused by the excessive appeals made by Hill, found that the trial evidence overwhelmingly supported Hill's conviction for aggravated murder with the death penalty specification.
Cosgrove also noted that the issue of intellectual disability "has been examined and reexamined... in several postconviction petitions and motions for a new trial.
"The evidence of Hill's behavior before the age of 18 is not new evidence," Cosgrove wrote in her 2023 decision.
Hill's argument is based on the U.S. Supreme Court's 2002 decision in the case of Atkins vs. Virginia that determined the Eighth Amendment's bar against cruel and unusual punishment prohibits the imposition of the death penalty for "mentally retarded" persons, now known as "intellectually disabled."
Watkins believes Cosgrove's decision will be upheld, as were those of prior Ohio judges at Hill's trial and in other state courts and in the federal system that Hill was fairly tried, convicted and sentenced to death for torturing, raping and murdering 12-year-old Raymond Fife in 1985.
Watkins also noted that while a few judges in the minority disagree, no court has found Hill is intellectually disabled.
Hill was convicted and sentenced to death in 1986 by a three-judge panel in Trumbull County of aggravated arson, kidnapping, rape, felonious sexual penetration and aggravated murder with capital specifications in the death of Raymond, of Warren. After the crimes, Hill went to the Warren Police Department seeking a reward, giving a statement, blaming others.
The Ohio Supreme Court first struck down Hill's appeal of his conviction and death sentence back in 1992. In 2003, after Hill filed his original Atkins (intellectual disability) petition, Judge Thomas Curran presided over Hill's Atkins hearing. After an expert for the state and another expert for the court determined that Hill was not intellectually disabled, Curran rejected Hill's claim, and Ohio's high court in 2009 declined to accept Hill's appeal.
An attempt by Hill to mount an Atkins claim in the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court was struck down in 2022, by a 9-7 vote, after an en banc hearing argued by then Ohio Solicitor General and current 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge, Benjamin Flowers. The U.S. Supreme Court followed by declining to review that 6th Circuit decision.
Those decisions led to Hill's attorneys filing a motion in the local court seeking a second bid for relief, which Ohio's high court struck down in its April 2026 ruling remanding the case to the 11th District Court.
Raymond's mother, Miriam Fife, who attended all trial proceedings, said she believes that "common sense shows that Hill kills, rapes children and women, lies and fakes bad on IQ tests; learning was never on his agenda!"
Watkins said he talked to Miriam. Fife on Monday morning to inform her of the decision. Watkins said she was in good spirits and thankful to the 11th District court.
"I also look forward to not going to court anymore," Fife said. "I only will be going to his execution."
Danny Lee Hill's execution is scheduled for July 18, 2029.
Watkins thanked all past attorney generals and solicitor generals of Ohio who have worked on the case over several decades, including former Solicitor Generals Eric Murphy and Flowers and current Solicitor General Mathura J. Sridharan.
Watkins especially thanks former Attorney General Dave Yost, former Solicitor General T. Elliot Gaiser and current Assistant Attorney General Stephen Mayer, who joined Assistant Trumbull County Prosecutor Charles L. Morrow in pursuing justice for Miriam Fife and her family.
Watkins also recognized the work of Stephen Maher before the Eleventh District Court of Appeals and Hendershot before the Ohio Supreme Court.