TRUMBULL COUNTY Taxpayers foot bill of thousands for child killer's intelligence tests

He was convicted for sexually assaulting, mutilating and killing a Warren boy.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A continuing hearing to determine if a convicted child killer is mentally retarded has cost taxpayers thousands of dollars.
The victim's mother, meanwhile, is questioning when the expense will end and wondering if authorities are being conned.
According to records from the Trumbull County prosecutor's office, county auditor's and state public defender's office, thousands of dollars were spent to have Danny Lee Hill tested by mental health experts to find out if he is mentally retarded.
On death row
Hill is on Ohio's death row after being convicted in 1986 of the 1985 sexual assault and mutilation death of Raymond Fife, 12, of Warren. If deemed mentally retarded, Hill could get off death row.
So far the prosecutor's office has paid $12,600. The bulk of that amount was for Dr. J. Gregory Olley, a North Carolina psychologist, who tested Hill.
Dr. Olley, however, has not yet submitted his bill for his testimony and hotel bill. Olley spent several days here testifying in county common pleas court that he did not believe Hill was mentally retarded.
The county also has to pay for visiting Judge Thomas Patrick Curran of Cleveland, and an expert, Dr. Nancy Huntsman from the Forensic Psychiatric Center of NorthEast Ohio Inc., whom the judge hired. The bill for that expert is $4,816.
To pay judge
The county will also have to pay the judge about $300 for each day he spent on the case. A bill has not yet been submitted, county officials said. Hearing dates on the matter have continued off and on in Trumbull County since 2003.
The Ohio Public Defender's Office also chose an expert, Dr. David Hammer of Columbus. Dr. Hammer has not yet submitted his bill.
That may not be all. The determination of whether Hill is mentally retarded won't come until next year, and Atty. Greg Myers, who represents Hill, is asking the court to allow another expert to examine the defendant.
"When will this end?" asked Miriam Fife, the victim's mother and a victim-witness advocate who works for the Trumbull County prosecutor's office.
"I hate to equate a life with money, but this is someone who has been found guilty and been sentenced to death but still has continued to be an evil force. It's almost like he is working with the devil to make everyone think he is the poor mistreated person. He's a schemer and a con artist."
The experts hired by the prosecution and the court both testified that they believed Hill was purposely trying to score low on his IQ test.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that executing mentally retarded people constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and is unconstitutional. Although the U.S. Supreme Court didn't specify an IQ level for determining mental retardation, most states generally consider someone with an IQ of 70 or lower to be retarded.
Score on test
Prosecutors point in court documents to an IQ test Hill took in 2000, which concluded that he isn't mentally retarded. He scored a 71 on that 2000 test.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati delayed Hill's appeal process in August 2002 pending a ruling from a state court on his mental capacity.
"I sat through most of this hearing, and when I did, I just kept noticing all the volumes of paper, everyone had to have their own copies of things and there were just volumes of paper," Fife said.
"I know it sounds crazy, but I kept thinking that all these beautiful trees had to be cut down for a life to me that is not worth anything. You have to do something in your lifetime to earn your way in life, and he has just been an evil force."
sinkovich@vindy.com