Summit County judge: Denny Ross retrial in 1999 Hannah Hill murder case could last 8 weeks

AKRON, Ohio - As a Summit County judge began the process of  seating a jury in the Denny Ross retrial in the 1999 Hannah Hill murder case, she noted the trial could be lengthy.

Jury selection for Ross began Monday morning in Summit County Common Pleas Court, where Judge Judy Hunter told potential jurors to prepare for two months at the courthouse.

On Monday, about 90 potential jurors entered the courtroom, where Ross, wearing a white dress shirt and tie, sat with his attorneys. The potential jurors who showed up for their duty filled out a questionnaire and were told they'll be brought back Wednesday or Thursday for more specific questioning.

On Tuesday, the final round of jurors, another 45, are expected in the court to fill out the paperwork.

The judge's hope is to select a dozen unbiased jurors, and a couple of alternates, from the pool of 135 by the end of this week.

Some of the questions ask potential jurors what they know from "personal knowledge" concerning the murder of Hannah Hill on May 19, 1999, or what they "heard, read or saw" about the case. Another question asks what, if anything, have you heard about the upcoming retrial of Denny Ross? A more specific question asks "how much have you heard or read about Denny Ross being connected to an investigation of rape and attempted murder of a different woman in 2004?" If someone answers nothing, the judge wants an explanation.

Ross is charged with murder, abuse of a corpse and felonious assault. He is of beating and strangling the 18-year-old Kenmore girl.

Hill's body was found six days after her parents filed a missing person's report inside the trunk of her gold Geo Prizm on Caine Road in Akron's Ellet neighborhood. Less than 24 hours later, police arrested Ross.

In 2000, Ross went on trial for Hill's murder, but a judge declared a mistrial after learning jurors discussed a lie detector test 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.

A decade of state and federal appeals followed, until the Ohio Supreme Court made a ruling in Dec. 2010: Ross must be retried for the crimes. Only this time, the death penalty won't be considered.

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.