Appeals court upholds Ohio man's death penalty

CINCINNATI (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld an Ohio man’s death penalty for killing a man he met in a gay bar in 1985.

The three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today unanimously affirmed a lower court’s ruling upholding Robert Van Hook’s death penalty.

The panel rejected Van Hook’s claim that prosecutors violated his rights by not providing psychological reports showing he may have been motivated by rejection of homosexual urges, not robbery. The panel also rejected ineffective counsel claims.

Van Hook never denied strangling and repeatedly stabbing David Self in Self’s Cincinnati apartment, but claimed temporary insanity.

The panel ruled that the reports don’t undermine confidence in the verdict.

Van Hook’s attorney says he will appeal to the full appeals court or the Supreme Court.