When lawyers pursue obstruction, judges must protect the justice system

The sun has risen and set more than 11,100 times since Danny Lee Hill was sentenced to death for the sadistic murder of 12-year-old Raymond Fife.

It is infuriatingly ironic that Hill has volunteer and government-paid lawyers who continue to fight for their vision of “justice” for their client. The time for justice for Raymond Fife and his family expired years ago.

Raymond Fife was set upon by two vicious attackers, Hill, then 18, and Timothy Combs, then 17, on Sept. 10, 1985, in a field off Palmyra Road in Warren. What happened to him over the next hour is contained in sterile court documents, but it is painful to read. Raymond was beaten and kicked, his pleas for mercy were ignored, he was sexually assaulted multiple times, he was choked, brutalized with a stick, had lighter fluid poured on him and set afire and was left for dead.

He was found unconscious by his father, Isaac, who went looking for him when Raymond failed to arrive at a Boy Scouts meeting. Raymond died two days later in St. Joseph Riverside Hospital without regaining consciousness.

Multiple contusions

It took Dr. Howard Adelman six hours to complete the autopsy, during which he documented multiple contusions on Raymond’s body, abrasions, ligature marks, second- and third-degree burns, internal damage caused by a jagged stick and what appeared to be bite marks on his penis.

Danny Lee Hill became a suspect after he went to the Warren Police Department saying he had information about the murder and asking about a $5,000 reward. During a recorded interview with detectives, Hill admitted to being at the site of the crime throughout the attacks. He described the assaults in detail but attributed all of the brutality to Combs. He said he didn’t leave or attempt to get help for Raymond because he was afraid Combs’ mother would go to police and blame Hill.

Despite their ages, Hill and Combs both had records for serious sexual assaults. Combs had been convicted of gross sexual imposition on another boy. Hill had raped two women at knife point and while in juvenile custody molested a boy.

Hill chose to be tried by a three-judge panel rather than a jury. Judges David F. McLain, Robert A. Nader and Mitchell F. Shaker found Hill guilty of aggravated murder with four death penalty specifications and four additional counts of kidnapping, rape, aggravated arson and felonious sexual penetration.

After weighing the aggravated factors against any possible mitigation, the judges sentenced Hill to death and set the execution date for Feb. 28, 1987. Because he was a juvenile at the time of the murder, Combs was sentenced to prison on multiple counts. He’ll first be eligible for parole when he is 82 years old.

Hill and a succession of lawyers have managed to avoid justice through appeals that have been rejected by the Ohio Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of the United States.

A new tactic

Now, new lawyers have come up with a new tactic. They are seeking a new trial on the grounds that the way experts view bite-mark evidence has changed in the 30 years since Hill’s trial. This, they argue, is “new evidence” that requires throwing out Hill’s conviction and retrying him.

But a change in how some dentists view bite marks is not new evidence. More importantly, disregarding any bite-mark evidence introduced at Hill’s trial, would not change his guilt. Under Ohio law, Hill’s admission that he was present throughout the deadly attack on Raymond Fife – even if one accepts his incredible contention that the only time he touched the boy was to see if he was still alive – seals his fate as a convicted murderer deserving the death penalty.

Isaac Fife didn’t live to see justice for his boy. Miriam Fife, Raymond’s mother, turned his tragic death into a career as a victim-rights advocate, helping hundreds like her, but none who suffered in the aftermath of as brutal a murder as that committed by Danny Lee Hill.

Lawyers who oppose the death penalty on personal grounds will always be ready to file appeals on Hill’s behalf. It is time for judges to put a stop to this 30-year obstruction of justice.