'I'm no good.' Ohio executes 'homosexual panic' murderer and killer of Hyde Park man
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.
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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.
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Read more: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/crime/crime-and-courts/2018/07/17/execution-homosexual-panic-murderer-set-10-m/792535002/
This man claimed gay panic in a 1985 murder. He was executed this morning.
By Alex Bollinger · Wednesday, July 18, 2018
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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 victims 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 didnt 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.
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more
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2018/07/man-claimed-gay-panic-1985-murder-executed-morning
RKP5637
(67,032 posts)marble falls
(56,358 posts)RKP5637
(67,032 posts)marble falls
(56,358 posts)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
(67,032 posts)in the guilt of most of those on death row.
marble falls
(56,358 posts)sometime!
MicaelS
(8,747 posts)Since the DP is legal, it is not murder. It can be classified as Homicide.
marble falls
(56,358 posts)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
(66,094 posts)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
(4,066 posts)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
(11,949 posts)But freely admit many deserve it so will not cry over this.
But would rather life in prison.
marble falls
(56,358 posts)GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)Not a guarantee, mind you.
But life with a chance of parole is still a life sentence.
marble falls
(56,358 posts)GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)Life without a chance of parole is inhuman in my opinion
marble falls
(56,358 posts)GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)marble falls
(56,358 posts)7962
(11,841 posts)HopeAgain
(4,407 posts)Americans are not nearly as civilized as they pretend to be.
LiberalLovinLug
(14,154 posts)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
(56,358 posts)Devil Child
(2,728 posts)marble falls
(56,358 posts)Devil Child
(2,728 posts)"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
(56,358 posts)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
(836 posts)- Goethe
crim son
(27,462 posts)I also oppose public funds going to pay for the room and board of guys like this.