Thursday brought a sense of finality to a more than 35-year-old murder case out of Warren.

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the case of convicted murderer Danny Lee Hill.

Hill has been on death row for his role in the killing of 12-year-old Raymond Fife.

Fife was killed by Hill and Timothy Combs on September 10, 1985.

Hill's death sentence had been appealed for the last 20 years.

Attorneys for Hill argued that he has a diminished mental capacity and is essentially illiterate.

Six of the nine justices denied Hill's petition, upholding the death penalty for him.

A dissenting opinion was given by three justices - Justice Sotomayor, Justice Breyer and Justice Kagan.

The next step in the case would be for Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins to request an execution date.

21 News spoke with Raymond Fife's mother, Miriam, who said she's satisfied with the Supreme Court's decision.

"I'm satisfied it went through the court system. I'm not worried about him getting out now and potentially hurting someone else," Miriam Fife said.

"There's never any closure but it feels safer for my family."

Background

According to court records, on September 10, 1985, at approximately 5:15 p.m., Raymond Fife left home on his bicycle to visit a friend, Billy Simmons.

After learning that the 12-year-old had not arrived at his friend's home by 5:50 pm, Fife's family began searching for him.

Raymond Fife's father found his son more than four hours later in a wooded field behind the Valu-King supermarket on Palmyra Road.

The child was naked and appeared to have been severely beaten, and his face was burned. Raymond's underwear was found tied around his neck and appeared to have been lit on fire.

Raymond died in the hospital two days later.

The coroner, who ruled Raymond's death a homicide, testified during the trial that the victim had been choked and had a hemorrhage in his brain. The coroner also said that Fife sustained several burns, damage to his rectal-bladder area and bite marks on his penis.

Through testimony from three Warren Western Reserve High School Students, the jury learned that Danny Lee Hill and Timothy Combs were in the area of the Valu-King and the bike trails on the evening Raymond Fife was assaulted. One of the students had also seen Fife riding his bike in the store parking lot.

A student who said he saw Combs on the trail also said he heard a child's scream. Another student says he saw Combs pulling up the zipper of his blue jeans.

Two days after Fife was found, Danny Lee Hill, who was 18 years old at the time, went to the Warren Police Station to inquire about a $5,000 reward that was being offered for information concerning the murder.

According to Police Sergeant Thomas Stewart, Hill told him that he had just seen some he knew riding Fife's bike. When Stewart asked Hill how he knew the bike belonged to Fife, Hill replied, "I know it is."

 

Sergeant Stewart testified that during their conversation, it became apparent that Hill knew a lot about the bike and the underwear that was found around Fife's neck.

On the following Monday, September 16, Hill went to the police station accompanied by his uncle, Warren Police Detective Morris Hill.

Police say after waiving his Miranda rights, Danny Lee Hill admitted on audio and videotape that he was present during the beating and sexual assault of Raymond Fife, but that Timothy Combs did everything to the victim.

Combs was eventually convicted of felonious sexual penetration, arson, rape, kidnapping, and aggravated murder.

Since Combs was 17 years old at the time of the crime, he was not eligible for the death penalty and was serving a life sentence until his death in prison in 2018.

Hill was convicted on the same charges, but since he was 18-years-old at the time Fife was assaulted, he was sentenced to death.