Judge rules attorneys can ask for new trial for murderer Danny Lee Hill

WARREN

The drawn-out legal proceedings surrounding Danny Lee Hill, the former Warren man convicted of the brutal murder and rape of Raymond Fife, 12, in 1985, will be getting longer.

A visiting judge ruled Tuesday that she will allow attorneys for Hill, 48, to ask for a new trial based on bite-mark evidence used at Hill’s 1986 trial that his attorneys believe is no longer credible.

Hill is on death row for killing Fife in a wooded area off Palmyra Road Southwest. Hill’s co-defendant, Timothy Combs, also was convicted of the murder but avoided the death penalty because he was 17 at the time.

Hill was convicted of raping, torturing and burning Raymond on Sept. 10, 1985, as the boy rode his bicycle to a Boy Scouts meeting. Raymond died two days later.

Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove’s decision doesn’t allow Hill to get a new trial; it only allows Hill’s attorneys to formally ask for one.

Attorneys for Hill and the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s office argued the issue at a hearing in the courtroom of Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court in December.

Read more about the matter in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.