WARREN Fife: Low-IQ ruling will drag out case

A low IQ could end up saving the life of the man convicted of killing a 12-year-old Valley boy.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A low IQ should not spare her boy's killer from the death penalty, a grieving mother-turned-victims advocate said.
"In my heart, I don't believe he was mentally retarded," said Miriam Fife, of Warren. "He knew right from wrong, he didn't follow anyone."
Danny Lee Hill, 35, has been on death row since 1986 for the murder of Fife's 12 year-old son, Raymond. Hill was convicted of aggravated murder, kidnapping, rape, aggravated arson and felonious assault.
In May, Fife traveled to Cincinnati to hear what she assumed would be one of Hill's final appeals, to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. The U.S. Supreme Court was the only court he had left to try.
A decision from the U.S. Supreme Court that it is unconstitutional to execute mentally retarded people could postpone setting an execution date again. Someone with an IQ of 70 or lower is generally considered to be retarded.
Announcement
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has announced that no inmates on death row in Ohio are mentally retarded, said Joe Case, a spokesman for the Ohio Attorney General.
"We are going to see inmates try to apply this decision to them even if it doesn't fit the facts of their cases," he said.
However, Fife said she expected Hill's case to drag out even longer in light of the Supreme Court decision.
Tests of Hill showed he had an IQ of about 68 at the time of his trial, Fife said.
"This changes things. It kind of drops everything on your lap," she said. "You want to throw your hands up in the air and say 'forget it.'"
Despite the low IQ, Hill was capable of caring for himself, and could have held a job if he wanted to, Fife said.
He was clever enough to scheme to collect a reward for finding Raymond's killer by turning someone else in, she said.
"I do feel sorry for him," she said. "I feel sorry for all the people who commit these types of crimes. But we have to have justice."