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'I'm no good': Convicted killer of gay man dies via lethal injection in Ohio

LUCASVILLE, Ohio — Convicted murderer Robert Van Hook was was executed Tuesday via lethal injection — 33 years after he stabbed a man to death in a Cincinnati apartment.

His execution was the second in as many days across the USA. On Tuesday night, Texas put to death Christopher Young, 34, that state's eighth execution this year.

Van Hook, weeping, told his victim’s brother, sister and brother-in-law he was “very sorry for taking your brother away from you.”

"I'm no good," he said. "I hope you now have some peace."

► June 28: 'Ice Pick Killer' Danny Bible executed for rape, murder in Texas
► May 19: Texas school shooting suspect won't face death penalty, could be paroled
► May 14: Illinois gov wants to reinstate death penalty for cop killers, mass murderers

Van Hook then recited a poem and began singing, which stopped after 2 minutes when the drugs took effect.

Van Hook was the 56th person put to death in Ohio since the death penalty resumed in the state in 1999 and the first since September. His time of death at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville was 10:44 a.m. ET, according to prison warden Ron Erdos.

The execution using a three-drug cocktail proceeded without any problems with the 58-year-old inmate’s chest rapidly rising and falling for a couple of minutes before he went still. A test of Van Hook's veins Tuesday, ahead of the lethal injection, didn’t find any problems, according to spokeswoman JoEllen Smith of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

In February 1985, the neighbor of Van Hook's victim found David Self, 25, nearly disemboweled the young man's Cincinnati apartment, about 80 miles northeast of the prison.

The gaping wound in his torso revealed his internal organs. It also was stuffed with a cigarette butt and the murder weapon itself: a paring knife.

Van Hook arrived Tuesday morning at Lucasville and spent the day watching TV, sleeping, listening to music and talking to his family, Smith said.

His final dinner: Three double cheeseburgers, three orders of french fries, strawberry cheesecake with whipped cream, a large vanilla milkshake and grapefruit juice.

► March 21: Execution by nitrogen close to becoming law in Alabama
► March 21: Death sentence reinstated for Mississippi's only woman on death row

He had a restless night without much sleep, Smith said. This morning he received communion and was witnessed performing a Buddhist chant with a friend.

Van Hook ate some leftover strawberry cheesecake from his last meal after he got up at 5 a.m., she said.

On the night of the 1985 slaying, Van Hook, then 25, met Self at Subway bar, a downtown Cincinnati establishment popular among gay men. During the appeals process, Van Hook's defense team said "homosexual panic" may have prompted the killing.

► March 21: Jeff Sessions: Feds should pursue death penalty in some drug cases
► March 20: Arizona death row inmates die from hepatitis C, not lethal injection

Defense attorneys argued unsuccessfully that Van Hook's life should be spared because he suffered from untreated childhood sexual, physical and mental abuse at the time of the killing.

However, Van Hook admitted to police he had been robbing gay men since he was 15.

He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. A panel of the three Hamilton County judges found him guilty and sentenced him to death.

► March 15: Alabama executes man convicted of murdering his boss
► March 15: Oklahoma says it plans to use nitrogen for executions

In May, the Ohio Parole Board voted against clemency for Van Hook. Gov. John Kasich rejected his plea for clemency without comment.

Self’s family supported the execution, telling the parole board last month that he is missed every day.

Ohioans to Stop Executions protested at the Lucasville prison and in Columbus. Other capital punishment protests happened in Cleveland, Dayton, Euclid, Mansfield and Toledo.

► March 6: Inmate punctured at least 11 times in execution attempt, report states
► Feb. 23: Man who murdered his mom, brother spared minutes before execution

"Our thoughts are with the family of David Self, the family of Robert Van Hook, and those tasked with carrying out another state-sanctioned execution," said Kevin Werner, executive director of the anti-death penalty group.

Van Hook's execution becomes the nation's 14th lethal injection of 2018, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow Cameron Knight on Twitter: @ckpj99

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