Once told prison guard that if released, he would shoot more cops;
After decades behind bars, Joseph increases pace of rules violations
Jenna Maze, coordinator of the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Victim Witness Division, learned from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction this week that 60-year-old police killer Fred Joseph Jr. has been denied parole and his next parole hearing will be scheduled in six years.
Joseph, who is serving a 30-year-to-life sentence for the December 1982 shooting death of Niles police officer John Utlak, was denied parole by the Ohio State Parole Board after a hearing in late July.
Joseph and his accomplice Randy Fellows were tried and found guilty before two different juries and Joseph was sentenced by late Common Pleas Judge David McLain in June 1983 after being prosecuted by Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins and staff attorneys.
John Utlak and his partner Bob Ludt were investigating drug activity among the teen population of Niles. On the evening of Dec. 8, 1982, Utlak told his partner that he was going to meet some informants, Fred Joseph Jr., then age 17 and Randy Fellows, 18, in the parking lot of the Gibralter Steel Corp. in Mineral Ridge. Unknown to Officer Utlak, Joseph and Fellows had planned to kill and rob the officer and flee the state of Ohio. Upon arriving at the parking lot, Fellows remained in the car while Joseph got out to speak to Utlak. As Joseph approached the officer, he pulled out a gun and shot Utlak at close range in the right side of the head. Joseph and Fellows then robbed Utlak of $400, a watch, his service revolver, a two-way radio and shotgun. Fellows and Joseph then fled the state in Fellows’ mother’s stolen car, heading west on the interstate. The dead body of Utlak was found the next morning by plant workers. Shortly after midnight on Dec. 11, 1982, Joseph was arrested at a traffic stop in Wyoming, while Fellows was arrested later at a Cheyenne, Wyoming, motel.
In his letter opposing parole, Watkins stated Joseph does not qualify for parole because of the heinousness of his crime, his future dangerousness, and his record of not learning from past mistakes as evidenced by his poor in-prison behavioral record which included “constant spewing of hateful epithets and violence to others no matter who you are.”
The letter detailed a conversation between then prison guard, Doug Sollitto, and Fred Joseph which occurred around 1994 at Trumbull Correctional Institution in which Joseph acknowledged personally shooting officer Utlak and “when I get out, I’m going to sit across from the Niles Police Department and shoot the first five cops that come out the door”
Joseph’s prison infraction record includes a recent history of 27 incidents and 46 violations of breaking prison rules and verbally abusing correction officers. (See attached June 15, 2026, letter which details prison records including recent increase of bad behavior – 46 reported infractions in the last five years.)
Watkins said he was pleased with the parole board’s decision and happy for Joseph’s surviving family, including his sister Joanne Robbins, and his partner Bob Ludt. Joanne also appreciated the Parole Board personally calling her to inform her of their decision.
“This office views him (Joseph) as “a safety hazard,” a man who has, can and will spew out hatred and violence without a moment’s notice even while in prison,” Watkins said. “Fred Joseph does not qualify to get in the return-to-society recycling bin of inmates… he needs imprisonment until he dies. Because Joseph was 17 years old when he killed Officer Utlak, this actual killer missed a death penalty prosecution by days.”
Joseph, who is incarcerated at Toledo Correctional Institution, will have his next parole hearing in May 2032.
Members of the public may submit comments about the potential parole of Fred Joseph Jr. Comments can be made through the ODRC website: https://drc.ohio.gov/systems-and-services/1-parole/parole-board-hearing-input
For more information, contact Guy Vogrin, investigator / public information officer, Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office, 330-675-2485.
Democrat Trumbull County prosecutor also asks both Ohio Republicans and Democrats to join other states to pass death penalty law for predatory rapists of very young children
Miriam Fife and family will not need to go back to court and listen to experts; decision comes on heels of Pew Research poll showing support for Death Penalty growing
The Ohio 11th District Court of Appeals, in a ruling released today, affirmed the decision of a visiting judge in denying death row inmate Danny Lee Hill’s bid to file a second postconviction relief petition challenging his death sentence which again claimed he was intellectually disa
bled, a term that replaced “mentally retarded.”
In a decision written by 11th District Judge John J. Eklund: “(State law) is clear. A trial court is without authority to consider a second or successive petition for post-conviction relief unless there are facts on which the petitioner (Hill) must rely and which the petitioner was unavoidably prevented from discovering, or the U.S. Supreme Court has created a new federal or state right that applies retroactively. Neither circumstance adheres in this case based on the record before us.”
Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins applauded this latest decision, also noting the “long line” of federal and state courts which have denied Hill’s attempt to escape execution. Watkins stated that Hill’s victims – Miriam Fife and family – will not need to go back to court and listen to more experts.” He added: “This should end the litigation on Hill’s alleged low-IQ defense.”
The (11th District’s) decision comes on the heels of a new Pew Research survey showing the support of the death penalty is growing,” Watkins said noting the July 6-12, 2026, Pew poll shows 66 percent of Americans now favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder.
The Ohio Supreme Court on April 23, 2026, remanded the case, which was argued by the former Ohio Chief Deputy Solicitor General, and now Federal District Court Judge Michael Hendershot, back to the 11th District court. The unanimous 11th District court, led by Judge Eklund and joined by Judges Matt Lynch and Robert J. Patton affirmed visiting Judge Patricia Cosgrove’s 2023 decision denying Hill’s petition for relief because it was “untimely and successive.” The ruling stated there were no new facts that Hill was intellectually disabled, only a new opinion, advanced by the federal public defender’s office, based upon the old facts.
In her decision, Judge Cosgrove, in noting the delays in the case caused by the excessive appeals made by Hill, found that the trial evidence overwhelmingly supported Hill’s conviction for aggravated murder with the death penalty specification. Cosgrove also noted that the issue of intellectual disability “has been examined and re-examined… in several postconviction petitions and motions for a new trial. The evidence of Hill’s behavior before the age of 18 is not new evidence,” Cosgrove wrote in her 2023 decision.
Hill’s argument is based on the U.S. Supreme Court 2002 decision in the case of Atkins vs. Virginia that determined the Eighth Amendment’s bar against cruel and unusual punishment prohibits the imposition of the death penalty for “mentally retarded” persons.
Watkins further believes that Judge Cosgrove’s decision, as was those of the prior Ohio judges from the trial level through the state courts and the federal system that found Hill was fairly tried, convicted and sentenced to death for torturing, raping and murdering 12-year-old Raymond Fife in 1985, will be upheld. Watkins also noted that while a few judges in the minority disagree, there has not been any court finding Hill, who had malingered on various IQ tests, is intellectually disabled.
Hill was convicted and sentenced to death in 1986 by a three-judge panel of aggravated arson, kidnapping, rape, felonious sexual penetration and aggravated murder with capital specifications arising out of the September 1985 torture, rape, and murder of 12-year-old Raymond Fife of Warren.
Following Hill’s horrifying crimes, Hill gathered his wits, and on his own, went to the Warren Police Department seeking a reward, giving a statement, blaming others and misleading officers.
The Ohio Supreme Court first struck down Hill’s original appeal of his conviction and death sentence back in 1992. Later in 2003, after Hill filed his original Atkins petition, Judge Thomas Curran presided over the longest Atkins hearing in Ohio relating to Hill’s alleged intellectual disability. After an expert for the state and another expert for the court had determined that Hill was not intellectually disabled, Judge Curran rejected Hill’s claim, and Ohio’s high court in 2009 declined to accept Hill’s appeal.
An attempt by Hill to mount an Atkins claim in the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court was struck down in 2022, by a 9-7 vote after an en banc hearing argued by then Ohio Solicitor General and current 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge, Benjamin Flowers. And the U.S. Supreme Court followed by declining to review that 6th Circuit decision.
Those decisions led to Hill’s attorneys filing a motion in the local court seeking a second bid for relief under Civil Rule 60(B), which Ohio’s high court struck down in its April 2026 ruling remanding the case to the 11th District Court.
Raymond Fife’s mother, Miriam Fife – who was at all trial proceedings said she believes that “common sense shows that Hill kills, rapes children and women, lies and fakes bad on IQ tests; learning was never on his agenda!”
Watkins said he talked to Mrs. Fife this morning to inform her of the decision. Watkins said she was in good spirits and thankful to the 11th District Court.
“I also look forward not going to court anymore,” Mrs. Fife said. “I only will be going to his execution.” Danny Lee Hill’s execution is scheduled for July 18, 2029.
Prosecutor Watkins thanks all past Attorney Generals and Solicitor Generals of Ohio who have worked on this case in the state and federal appellate courts over several decades, including former Solicitor General’s Eric Murphy and Bejamin Flowers, who are presently federal appellate judges serving on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and current Solicitor General Mathura J. Sridharan. He especially thanks former Attorney General Dave Yost, former Solicitor General T. Elliot Gaiser and current Assistant Attorney General Stephen Maher who joined him and Assistant Prosecutor Charles L. Morrow of his office in pursuing justice for Miriam and her family. Watkins would would specifically like to recognize the excellent arguments presented by Stephen Maher before the Eleventh District Court of Appeals and Michael Hendershot before the Supreme Court of Ohio.
For more information, contact Guy M. Vogrin, investigator/public information officer for the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office at 330-675-2485.
Jenna Maze, coordinator for the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Victim/Witness Division, announced that the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections has informed her that convicted murderer Joy Hodge has been denied parole and must remain in prison for at least 10 more years.
According to the ODRC, Hodge will face her next parole hearing in May 2036. Hodge, 43, is currently incarcerated in Dayton Correctional Institution.
Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Paris, a member of this office’s Child Assault Unit who wrote the parole board in June opposing Hodge’s potential parole, said she was pleased with the parole board’s decision. Prosecutor Dennis Watkins also applauded the decision, saying a dangerous murderer with repeated behavioral violations will remain behind bars, keeping Ohioans safe. Former Child Assault Division Chief Diane Barber tried the case to a jury before Judge W. Wyatt McKay in 2012.
Hodge was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison on March 12, 2013. for convictions of murder, felonious assault and endangering children.
On Sept. 5, 2011, and continuing into the early morning hours of the next day, Hodge engaged in Labor Day celebrations including the consumption of alcohol and smoking marijuana. She had left her young children at home unattended, repeatedly prioritizing partying and personal gratification over the basic duty of parenthood. After briefly returning home, Hodge went to a bar around midnight to continue drinking, where she remained until about 2:30 a.m. As a direct result of this reckless abandonment, the defendant’s 15-month-old female child was discovered deceased in her crib about 1 p.m. on Sept. 6, 2011. At Hodge’s jury trial, the coroner testified the young child had been deceased for a minimum of seven hours prior to her discovery. Additionally, the autopsy documented multiple areas of bruising to the head, thighs, chest as well as a lacerated liver, hemorrhaging within the abdominal cavity and swelling of the brain. Evidence showed the victim endured significant physical trauma for a long period of time before ultimately succumbing to fatal injuries.
Paris noted in her letter to the parole board that Hodge’s institutional record while in prison reflects a persistent and escalating pattern of misconduct. Nineteen separate violations and infractions have been a part of Hodge’s record from March 2013 through November 2025. The more serious misconduct violations included theft, verbal harassment of correctional staff and repeated refusals to follow orders.
Paris notes that these violations “underscore serious concerns regarding her respect for authority, impulse control and capacity to function within the bounds of the law.” Paris stated she was glad that the parole board allowed Hodge to continue to serve out the balance of her sentence.
“Given the seriousness of the offenses… early release would not appropriately reflect the gravity of the crimes Hodge committed, or the harm inflicted to the victim,” Jennifer Paris stated in the letter written June 16, 2026.
Members of the public may submit comments about the potential parole of Joy Hodge. Comments can be made through the ODRC website: https://drc.ohio.gov/systems-and-services/1-parole/parole-board-hearing-input
For more information, contact Guy Vogrin, investigator / public information officer, Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office, 330-675-2485.
Guilty infractions after guilty infractions in 2026, 2025 and 2024 … underscore the continuing dangerousness of this man…It is unimaginable that this man should be released from prison back to Trumbull County or anywhere else in this country or planet earth, Prosecutor Watkins says
AGE: 67(DOB 7/31/1958)
INCARCERATED: Marion Correctional Institution
SENTENCED: 18 years to life on convictions of murder, felonious assault and inciting violence. Sentenced on Nov. 10, 1994, by former Trumbull County Judge W. Wyatt McKay. Palma was convicted of the May 4, 1994, slaying of his wife Vivian Chancellor, 42.
PAROLE HEARI
NG: August 2026 (last hearing was in 2021)
THE CRIME: On May 4, 1994, Palma called Chancellor home from her job as prison guard at Trumbull Correctional Institution, saying her grandchild was ill. Earlier that day, Palma had been drinking and told a witness he was going to kick out Chancellor, because he had read letters to her from another man who wanted Chancellor to leave Palma. The same witness had observed a shotgun sitting up against the wall and told Palma not to do anything stupid. Later that day, Warren city police received a call from Palma stating he had just killed his wife. Officers went to the home where they found Ms. Chancellor slumped over in a chair with a fatal 12-guage shotgun wound to the head.
Prosecutors noted Palma’s propensity for anger by describing an incident at the Trumbull County jail as he awaited trial. He and another cellmate were told they had to move to another cell, and Palma threw chemicals in the faces of jail officers and bruised their arms.
While in prison, Palma displayed inappropriate behavior with a newly hired female staff member. Twice in 2014, Palma was involved in a physical altercation with another inmate. Prosecutor Dennis Watkins noted that Palma’s recent prison infraction record since his last parole hearing in 2021, has not improved.
“Guilty infractions after guilty infractions in 2026, 2025 and 2024 in prison underscore the continuing dangerousness of this man,” Watkins writes in his most recent letter to the parole board. “It is unimaginable that this man should be released from prison back to Trumbull County or anywhere else in this country or planet earth.”
While sitting in an April 2026 disciplinary session with prison authorities, inmate Palma was very agitated and started getting loud in making threats toward another inmate. Palma said: “I’m doing life, I don’t care. You (expletive). Don’t let me out, I will kill that dude. I got life. Don’t leave me here, I will kill the (expletive).”
Watkins also notes that his program training and community service activity has allowed Palma to be able to train dogs, plant flowers, do gardening and know something about “crayons to computers.” Watkins states: “Nevertheless, in reviewing his bad behavior history, Palma in my opinion, cannot escape his continuing record of being a con artist/sociopath when it comes to living with real people in the real world – his temper will always get in the way.”
Former Assistant Prosecutor Diane Barber wrote the board in 2007 that “Due to the fact that Mr. Palma has shown such propensity to violence and an inability to control his actions... We strongly recommend that you keep Mr. Palma incarcerated for the entire sentence imposed by the court.”
“So, whether it is our letters of 2007, 2016, or today, the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office and the surviving victim’s family consistently and strongly maintain the view that inmate Palma should serve his full life sentence to ensure adequate punishment and protect the public from future crime … I don’t believe I have ever witnessed a more fearless, daring, and highly creative approach to parole release by an inmate while being disciplined in prison than Palma. He is saying to corrections officials, parole me or I will kill a fellow inmate. He says he has nothing to lose if he kills in prison since he is serving a life sentence anyways. This jerk is in prison for brutally murdering a defenseless woman – and has been rehabilitated beyond belief with programs – yet they have not been effective, which means in my mind, Ignacio Palma, after 36 years, IS NOT SUITABLE FOR RELEASE ON PAROLE AT THIS TIME OR EVER.”
Prosecutor Dennis Watkins
Members of the public may submit comments about the potential parole of Ignacio Palma. Comments can be made through the ODRC website: https://drc.ohio.gov/systems-and-services/1-parole/parole-board-hearing-input
For more information, contact Guy Vogrin, investigator / public information officer, Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office, 330-675-2485.