Alex Constantine - May 23, 2013
Boston.com Metadesk, May 5, 2013:
BROCKTON — After his arrest for a murderous rampage, alleged killer Keith Luke described to police a plot to invade the homes of non-whites, kill them, and drive to a temple hosting bingo night, where he had intended to have a “happy ending” by committing suicide.
“I decided I was going to kill as many non-whites as possible, and then kill myself,’’ Luke told police, his defense attorney said today in court.
As the disturbing and gruesome confession was recounted in Brockton Superior Court, Luke, on trial for attacking three Cape Verdean nationals, killing two of them, smirked, then stared ahead blankly.
Since the trial began Thursday, prosecutors have sought to portray Luke, a self-described neo-Nazi skinhead, as a cold-hearted killer who amassed a trove of hammers, crowbars, and medical devices to carry out his war against anyone who was not white.
In court today, Luke’s defense attorney Joseph F. Krowski Jr. used his client’s own words to police to paint a picture of a disturbed young man who had languished in psychiatric hospitals and then in isolation before he carried out his deadly acts.
Questioning the chief investigator in the case, Krowski pointed out that Luke had described a growing disgust over what he saw as whites being degraded and felt that “the Zionist government” was doing nothing about it. Luke also said Congress was going to pass a “thought crime law” and that authorities were building “FEMA camps” for whites like him, Krowski said.
“You didn’t go out and investigate whether there was a Zionist occupation for the case, did you?’’ Krowski asked the investigator, Trooper Elvin Morales.
“No,’’ Morales replied.
“Because you know that is gibberish, right?’’ Krowski said.
“Yes,” Morales responded.
Luke, a Brockton resident, is facing life in prison in the Jan. 21, 2009, fatal shootings of 20-year-old Selma Goncalves and 72-year-old Arlindo DePina Goncalves, who is not related to Selma. He is also accused of raping and shooting Selma’s 22-year-old sister. The Globe is not identifying her because of the allegation that she is a rape victim.
Luke confessed to the crimes, but gave a series of bizarre explanations for his actions, saying, among other things, that he was angry over black men dating white women. He also said he had no friends or family and that he had never had sex and intended to have intercourse with a girl before he died.
“I have to sacrifice my life for something,’’ he said, according to testimony.
Morales testified that Luke made the statements while they were filling out paperwork at booking and then in a separate interview later. He had asked Luke a series of questions, including whether he was married or single. Luke responded in a chilling monotone.
“I am fighting for the dying race,’’ he told the trooper. “I am speaking the truth. I’m banned from a list that has blackballed me from everything.”
Luke, in white T-shirt and prison-issued green pants, sat quietly with one arm folded over the other during the trial. At one point, he wrote something on a yellow legal pad, and he smirked while his lawyer recounted his words for jurors. His defense attorney said Luke had been in a psychiatric hospital for three years prior to 2009 and that prior to the killings, he had spent a majority of the time isolated from everyone else. He had only held a job for one day in his entire life.