WARREN, Ohio (WKBN) – A new legal action has been brought to Ohio’s 11th District Court of Appeals in Warren on behalf of convicted child murderer Danny Lee Hill.

According to Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins, this will be Hill’s 29th time he has brought legal action to the courts in connection to his death sentence for the rape and murder of Raymond Fife in 1985.

This latest case claims that Hill has an intellectual disability and that his death sentence should be overturned. Hill’s mental status has been litigated in the past and he lost previous appeals pertaining to the issue.

During court proceedings Thursday in the district court, Hill’s public defenders presented arguments centered around recently adopted legal and medical standards which were not in existence at the time of Hill’s initial claim of mental retardation. The three 11th District judges will consider the arguments and make a decision at a later date, according to Watkins.

Judge Patricia Cosgrove ruled in May 2023 to dismiss Hill’s request by his attorneys to reconsider an earlier ruling on his Adkins Claim (intellectual disability. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in June 2022.

It has been 37 years since Hill’s conviction and sentencing. He is scheduled for execution on July 22, 2026, however, Ohio has a moratorium on executions because the Ohio Department of Corrections cannot secure the drugs needed for lethal injection.