Denny Ross turns down plea deal at final pretrial hearing in Summit County

AKRON, Ohio - Accused killer Denny Ross rejected a plea deal at his final pretrial hearing in Akron on Tuesday. It means his murder retrial is still set to begin Aug. 13 at 9 a.m.

Ross is charged with beating, raping and strangling 18-year-old Hannah Hill to death on May 19, 1999.

Two deals were on the table for Ross: one for murder, the other for manslaughter. The first would've tacked on 25 more years. The other would have sent him to prison for 15 years to life, with 8 years credit for time already served. Judge Judy Hunter said she'd give Ross a day to think about, but he said he didn't need it.

Ross called both offers "insulting," according to our partners at the Akron Beacon Journal. "I won't change my mind. There will never be a plea offer," Ross said in open court.

Summit County Common Pleas Court officials said the first week of the retrial will likely be spent selecting a jury.

In 2000, Ross went on trial for Hill's murder, but a judge declared a mistrial after learning that jurors had discussed a lie detector test-- evidence that was not presented during the trial. It was later learned that jurors had voted to acquit Ross on the murder counts, but the verdicts were never read in open court.

After more than a decade of appeals from Ross’s attorneys, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in Dec. 2010 that Ross could be retried. The court declared a second trial wouldn't constitute double-jeopardy, however, the death penalty can't be considered now.

Ross is currently serving a 25-year sentence in the Trumbull Correctional Institution after being convicted in 2004 of raping an Akron woman, a crime he committed while free on bond in the Hill case.

Earlier this month, Ross filed motions asking the court allow media coverage on all platforms. Judge Hunter has not made an official ruling on that request.