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Ohio Board to review van Hook’s homosexual panic this Thursday.
BEACON TRANSCRIPT – On Thursday, Ohio Parole Board will hear the arguments of Robert Van Hook’s lawyer, the man who was sentenced in 2009 for stabbing to death a gay man in 1985. Van Hook declared during his May the 17th filing that he experienced a homosexual panic while assaulting David Self in his Cincinnati apartment.
Hook’s Homosexual Panic Called Nonsensical By Parole Board
On the 2nd of February, Robert Van Hook left a Cincinnati gay bar with 25-year-old David Self. According to court documents, Van Hook and Self had a few drinks before retiring to Self’s apartment.
Once there, van Hook jumped Self and strangled him until he was unconscious. Van Hook then took a knife, split open Self’s abdomen, and stabbed his organs numerous times. Before leaving, the man stole jewelry and Self’s leather jacket.
Van Hook was arrested later that year, and in 2009, an Ohio jury found him the guilt of first-degree murder and sentenced him to death.
Nine years later, van Hook, whose execution was scheduled for the 18th of Jury, approached the Ohio Parole Board with what he called a “homosexual panic.”
According to the death row inmate’s lawyer, van Hook was overcome with self-revulsion when he murdered Self. Moreover, van Hook questioning his own sexuality and his troubled background are also factors that should be taken into account, the attorney argued.
Conclusion
Coming from a broken home, van Hook experience trauma from an early age, being molested and physically assaulted by his parents.
Earlier this year, the prosecution dismissed van Hook’s argument. They’ve declared that the inmate was well aware of what he was doing and that his sexual orientation had nothing to do with his criminal conduct.
Court documents showed that van Hook frequented gay bars to lure gay men to remote locations in order to rob them.
Image source: Flickr
