Sentence cut for Ohio death row inmate

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A judge reduced the sentence of an Ohio death row inmate Thursday to 30 years to life after his conviction was overturned based on new evidence suggesting his infant daughter’s death was accidental.

Genesis Hill was convicted in 1991 in Cincinnati of aggravated murder for killing his 6-month-old daughter, Domika. Hamilton County prosecutors argued the infant was violently shaken.

In February, the 1st District Court of Appeals of Ohio ruled that Hill’s attorneys had correctly established his right to an evidentiary hearing claiming he was innocent.

In April, federal Judge Edmund Sargus overturned Hill’s death sentence based on evidence that Hill fell off a wall while holding Domika and accidentally crushed the infant’s skull with his knee.

Sargus wrote that Amy Martin, the Hamilton County deputy coroner who conducted the infant’s autopsy, had made “significant revisions to the expert opinion she offered at trial.”

In addition, a police report withheld from Hill’s attorneys at trial that became available later questioned the credibility of the prosecution’s main witness — Domika’s mother and Hill’s girlfriend.

Hamilton County Judge Lisa Allen handed down the new sentence Thursday. Hill is eligible for parole, but it’s unclear when he might leave prison.

Defense attorney William Gallagher called the new sentence a fair resolution.

Hill was the second inmate from Hamilton County to leave death row in recent months after evidence suggested a killing was in fact an accident. On June 24, the Ohio Supreme Court agreed to cancel a scheduled October execution for death row inmate Angelo Fears, after prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed his sentence should be changed to life without parole.