TRUMBULL COUNTY Killer seeks attorney to appeal penalty

The mother of the victim says she'll continue to fight to see Danny Lee Hill executed.
By DENISE DICKand PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The man convicted of the 1985 murder of a 12-year-old boy wants a judge to appoint him an attorney to argue that he's ineligible for the death penalty.
Cincinnati attorney Mark A. Vander Laan, who represents Danny Lee Hill in his federal appeal case, filed a motion Thursday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court asking that Hill be appointed legal counsel.
"His life is literally at stake in the outcome of these proceedings," Vander Laan wrote in his motion. "As such, he has a constitutional right to court-appointed counsel in order to ensure due process, equal protection and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment."
The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati stayed Hill's appeal process in August pending a ruling from a state court on Hill's mental ability. The appeals court followed a June decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that it's unconstitutional to execute mentally retarded people.
The Supreme Court didn't set an IQ level below which a person is determined to be retarded, but most states generally consider someone with an IQ of 70 or lower to be retarded. Psychological exams from the 1980s show that Hill's IQ ranges from 55 to 68.
Mother to continue fight
Miriam Fife, the mother of slain Raymond Fife, plans to continue her fight to see Hill executed. But she said she's not fighting for herself or her son "but for the next child that might be killed by someone like him [Hill]," she said.
Because Hill was sentenced to death before the Supreme Court decision, he must now represent his claim of ineligibility for the death penalty in the Trumbull court and "needs competent counsel appointed to represent him in this action," Vander Laan wrote in his motion.
Vander Laan and the other attorney in the case aren't seeking to represent Hill in the action, believing counsel located closer to Trumbull County would be in a better position to represent Hill. They also aren't certified to accept appointments to capital cases.
dick@vindy.comsinkovich@vindy.com