A federal judge has told death row inmate Danny Lee Hill to quit delaying the appeals in his case - a point that Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins has brought up for years.
U.S. District Judge John R. Adams - the same judge who unexpectedly temporarily jailed semi-retired shopping mall developer John "J.J." Cafaro this month - denied Hill's motion to halt all challenges to his most recent claim of mental retardation in the federal courts.
Adams, like Watkins, believes the convicted killer uses the self-filed motions to waive all proceedings to create further delay in his case that has dragged on for nearly 25 years.
"The motion contains no reasons for Hill's request, nor any argument to support his request to halt the proceedings. Instead, it appears from the background of this case that Hill is attempting once more to inject an additional issue into this matter to further delay its resolution. This conclusion stems from Hill's prior actions in this proceeding and his state court proceedings," Adams wrote in his order last week.
Watkins called attention to Hill's similar tactic in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court when, for nearly four years, Hill claimed he was mentally retarded and unfit for execution. Midway through that proceeding, known as an Atkins claim, Hill fired attorneys and then tried to withdraw his claim only to prompt another review of his competency.
The Trumbull prosecutor has said repeatedly that Hill's skill at delaying an execution only proves that he is not mentally retarded - a decision reached by judges at the state, appellate and Ohio Supreme Court level.
"Hill now moves again to dismiss all further proceedings in this matter. It is difficult to see Hill's motion as anything other than a delaying tactic. It seems that at every instance that Hill has not been able to contact his counsel or deems some delay in the proceedings to be too long for his liking, this type of motion is filed. As such, the current motion is denied," Adams wrote.
The judge added that if Hill wants to halt the proceedings, he must do so through his attorney of record and with properly filed arguments stating a reason.
Hill, now 43, was 18 years old when he was convicted of raping, torturing and murdering 12-year-old Raymond Fife in a field on Warren's southwest side in 1985. He was sentenced to death in February 1986 after a trial before a three-judge panel.
Besides the retardation claim in Adams's court, Hill's latest team of attorneys in the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals have resumed a coercion claim that an assistant prosecutor said has been "litigated and re-litigated till the cows come home."
Constitutional rights and the role of Hill's uncle, former Warren Detective Morris Hill, in Hill's original arrest have cleared legal hurdles at a suppression hearing prior to trial, as well as in the 11th District Court of Appeals, the Ohio Supreme Court and a federal district court, according to Watkins.
