WARREN Killer seeks IQ testing

Most of the more than 30 spectators were from the murder victim's family.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A man convicted of the torture, murder and mutilation of a 12-year-old boy told a judge that he doesn't "want to be hurt anymore."
Danny Lee Hill, who was convicted in 1986 of killing Raymond Fife, was back in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on Thursday asking the judge to appoint two local attorneys to help him get his death sentence vacated.
To get the death sentence vacated, Hill must prove he is mentally retarded. He asked the judge to appoint Attys. Roger Bauer and Maridee Costanzo.
However, Judge Andrew Logan told Hill that Greg Meyers of the Ohio Public Defender's Office in Columbus has more experience on death row cases than Costanzo and Bauer do.
"I know these two attorneys will help me and defend me better," Hill said as he broke down and began to sob.
"All I want ... all the attorneys that you appointed on my case put me back on death row. The one attorney sabotaged my case. They hurt me. I don't want to hurt anymore. I didn't do it. I didn't have anything to do with it."
The judge granted Hill's request after Bauer said Meyers would work on the case with him.
Meyers said Hill felt that a public defender who worked on his appeal did not represent him properly. That attorney is no longer with the public defender's office, Meyer said.
Hill, dressed in orange jail coveralls, did not look at the more than 30 spectators in the courtroom. The majority of those attending the hearing were family members of Raymond's, including his mother, Miriam.
"He says he is tired of being hurt. Well that is too damn bad," Fife said.
"He killed my son, and he should be punished."
What defense requested
Bauer also asked the judge to recuse himself from the case because Miriam Fife is a victim/witness advocate employed by the county prosecutor's office and is in his courtroom at least once a week.
The judge told Bauer to put his motion in writing so it could be reviewed. Bauer agreed.
Another hearing has been scheduled for June.
The judge has ruled that Hill will need to be evaluated by experts to determine if he is mentally retarded.
Prosecutor Dennis Watkins and LuWayne Annos, an assistant prosecutor, have stated in court motions that Hill was given an IQ test in 2000 and was found not to be retarded.
The prosecutors have said the U.S. 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.
Hill's score in 2000 put his IQ at 71.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati stayed Hill's appeal process in August pending a ruling from a state court on his mental capacity.
The appeals court ruling followed a June decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that it's unconstitutional to execute mentally retarded people.
Psychological exams from the 1980s show Hill's IQ ranged from 55 to 68.
sinkovich@vindy.com