Just two days after Trumbull County Prosecutor suggested the possibility of executing convicted killer Danny Lee Hill by firing squad, the county NAACP has fired back.

Trumbull County NAACP President Annette McCoy on Friday issued a statement that not only opposes Watkin’s request for Hill’s execution but also calls for an investigation into what McCoy calls the “Prosecutor’s office for bias sentencing of minorities in Trumbull County.”

On Wednesday, Watkins called on the state to set an execution date for Hill, who was sentenced 37 years ago after he was convicted of torturing and murdering 12-year-old Warren Boy Scout Raymond Fife.

 

Since death by lethal injection is currently unavailable in the state, Watkins suggests that the state consider other execution methods such as a firing squad or electrocution, as well as newer methods like nitrogen hypoxia.

The NAACP’s statement expresses sympathy for the Fife family but said the organization opposes Watkin’s request.

“Whether administered by federal or state government, the death penalty is infected with fundamental flaws, including persistent racial discrimination, and human error. There is no credible evidence that the death penalty deters crime. Since 1973, at least 189 people wrongly convicted and sentenced to death have been exonerated. 100 of the death row exonerees are Black,” said McCoy in her statement.

“Racism is inextricable from capital punishment. The death penalty has its roots in slavery, lynchings, white vigilantism, and the racial inequities in sentencing persist to this day,” according to McCoy who adds that as of January 1, 2022, 1,540 individuals have been executed since the 1976 reinstatement of capital punishment.

McCoy’s statement concludes with a call to investigate the Prosecutor’s office for what the NAACP says is the Prosecutor’s office for bias sentencing of minorities in Trumbull County.

The statement did not elaborate on specific allegations of bias against the Prosecutor’s office.

21 New has reached out to the prosecutor's office for a reaction to the NAACP’s statement and is waiting for a response.