'I'm no good.' Ohio executes 'homosexual panic' murderer and killer of Hyde Park man

[DonViejo]

Source: Cincinnati Enquirer



Cameron Knight, Cincinnati Enquirer Published 11:30 p.m. ET July 17, 2018 | Updated 1:59 p.m. ET July 18, 2018

Robert Van Hook broke into sobs before he was put to death Wednesday.

-snip-

Van Hook execution took place 33 years after he stabbed a man to death in a Cincinnati apartment. He nearly disemboweled the 25-year-old victim, David Self, after the two met at a Downtown Cincinnati gay bar.

Van Hook was the first killer from Hamilton County to be executed in seven years.

Along with prison personnel, 10 people and four members of the press traveled to Lucasville to witness the execution.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/crime/crime-and-courts/2018/07/17/execution-homosexual-panic-murderer-set-10-m/792535002/

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This man claimed ‘gay panic’ in a 1985 murder. He was executed this morning.

By Alex Bollinger · Wednesday, July 18, 2018



-snip-

He is the 56th person to get the death penalty in Ohio since the state legalized it in 1999.

Van Hook was accused of killing David Self, who he met at a gay bar in Cincinnati. Prosecutors said they talked for a few hours and then went back to the victim’s apartment, where Van Hook strangled him, stabbed him several times in the neck, cut open his abdomen, and stabbed his internal organs.

Self was 25-years-old when he died. He was found by a neighbor, disemboweled and with a cigarette butt and a paring knife in his torso.

Van Hook argued for years that his lawyers were incompetent at his original trial. He did not say that he didn’t commit the murder, but that he had a difficult childhood which involved sexual abuse and undiagnosed mental illness.

He also claimed gay panic earlier this year when he asked the Ohio Parole Board for clemency. Van Hook said that he was suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder when Self made sexual advances towards him.

-snip-

more
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2018/07/man-claimed-gay-panic-1985-murder-executed-morning

[RKP5637]

1. Good riddance! Rest in hell! n/t

[marble falls]

8. First time you and I have disagreed. Execution is premeditated murder, too

[RKP5637]

15. Hi, yep I know, it really is. ... but senseless murders like this really get to me. n/t

[marble falls]

17. Me, too. That is what totally changed my attitude about execution. I realized that if I ...

could find "poster children" for the chair, I was applying standards not in the law. To me there is no way to apply the penalty fairly. After I got past that, all the folks released from death row showed me I could never have complete confidence in the guilt of most of those on death row.

The problem for me (and I think also for you) is justice cries out for the victim. But the victim gets no justice, ever.

Keep up your good fight, I always look forward to your posts!

[RKP5637]

19. That's the part that really bothers me "I could never have complete confidence

in the guilt of most of those on death row.

[marble falls]

20. There's just got to be a better way. Maybe we'll sit somewhere over a beer and fix it ...

sometime!

[MicaelS]

22. Murder is unlawful killing.

Since the DP is legal, it is not murder. It can be classified as Homicide.

[marble falls]

23. I guess it all depends on what your definition of is, is. It is the purposeful ending of ....

another's life in the face of everything we say as a society about life being sacred and inviolable, just because its an execution.

Its a whole lot more than semantics. It'll take a whole more than semantics to justify it.

[Aristus]

2. I'm still opposed to the death penalty.

But I get a grim satisfaction from hearing these monsters break down and boo-hoo-hoo when faced with the consequences of their actions.

[bitterross]

3. "Gay Panic" What a fucking bunch of shit.

We seem to have a lot of white people having "African American Panic" on a regular basis. If we're going to allow "Gay Panic" as a defense then they should really consider using "African American Panic" too. Neither makes a damn bit of sense.

[GulfCoast66]

4. I am against the death penalty.

But freely admit many deserve it so will not cry over this.

But would rather life in prison.

[marble falls]

9. Life without a chance of parole is a chickshit form of death penalty.

[GulfCoast66]

11. There should always be a chance for parole.

Not a guarantee, mind you.

But life with a chance of parole is still a life sentence.

[marble falls]

12. Not everyone can be redeemed, but everyone should have the chance.

[GulfCoast66]

13. We are in agreement

Life without a chance of parole is inhuman in my opinion

[marble falls]

14. Yep, anyone can change.

[GulfCoast66]

16. I guess our opinions make us snowflakes

[marble falls]

21. So be it! The hell with them other guys!

[7962]

5. "gay panic". Any excuse to get out of a crime. Sorry dude, you lose. nt

[HopeAgain]

6. So we show killing is wrong by killing someone

Americans are not nearly as civilized as they pretend to be.

[LiberalLovinLug]

7. 33 years?!!!!

I am not in favour of the death penalty, but my gawd, that is a long time to sit in a cell and wait for your state execution.
Not to mention the cost of keeping the man alive for all that time.

Its almost like prosecutors get their cake and eat it too. He spends as much time as someone else might get for a brutal murder, and is still executed. And the bonus.....he gets to live in constant dread about when exactly his appeals will run out and he'll be put to death.

I don't have much sympathy for this man, but it seems like everyone loses. Taxpayers have to house and feed the guy for 33 years, even after a death sentence. What's the point?

[marble falls]

10. All good and legitimate questions.

[Devil Child]

18. Justice is served n/t

[marble falls]

24. We can't definitively say that. All we can really say for sure is its over.

[Devil Child]

25. No, justice was served.

"I'm very sorry for taking your brother from you." From the mouth of the murderer himself.

Rest in Peace to David Self, murdered for the crime of homosexuality by Robert Van Hook.

[marble falls]

27. Hopefully. Thats the intent. I don't think it makes up for David Self. It ...

doesn't make up for David Self's family. It doesn't make up for David Self's loved ones other than family. There is no justice for anyone, especially not David Self. I think you will agree trading David Self's life with Robert Van Hook's death was no satisfying bargain at all. It fixed nothing. It balanced out no justice.

We stop the killing by stopping the killing. I can't control you but I sure can control me.

[Comatose Sphagetti]

26. "Beware of those in whom the urge to punish is strong."

- Goethe

[crim son]

28. I oppose the death penalty but

I also oppose public funds going to pay for the room and board of guys like this.