By Jessica Fargen
The Boston Herald
PLYMOUTH, Mass. — The lawyer for a Brockton man accused in the vicious hate killing of two Cape Verdeans and the rape of another says he isn’t surprised his client overdosed in a Plymouth jail, where he says the conditions are inhumane.
Keith Luke, who is charged with two counts of murder as well as rape and assault for the Jan. 21 hate-fueled crime spree against ``non-whites,’' was being held without bail at the Plymouth House of Correction while he awaited trial.
Luke was hospitalized Friday after an apparent overdose, said Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph D. McDonald Jr. He said the incident is under investigation.
It’s unclear what medication Luke ingested or where he got it, McDonald said.
“That’s what we are looking into now. What exactly did he ingest? Is it something brought here, or something he had himself?’' McDonald said. “We don’t know the details.’'
Luke is at the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Jamaica Plain, McDonald said.
Luke’s lawyer, Joseph Krowski Jr., claimed Luke was under a 23-hour-a-day lockdown and forced to clean up feces and urine other inmates threw on his door.
“I’m outraged at the conditions,’' said Krowski. “This was bound to happen given the circumstances in which he’s being held. It’s a complete deprivation of any humanity.’'
As far back as Luke’s arraignment, Krowski pushed to send Luke to Bridgewater State Hospital because of his “mental health frailties.’'
While in jail, Luke carved a swastika in his forehead and shaved his head.
Authorities allege that Luke, who was 22 at the time of the crimes, spent months hatching a plan of racial slaughter and later told police he was “fighting extinction’’ of the white race by killing “Jews, blacks and Hispanics.’'
He is accused in the murders of Arlindo Goncalves, 72, a homeless man, and Selma Goncalves, 20, and in the rape and shooting of Selma Goncalves’ sister. The Goncalves sisters, who are not related to the third victim, were attacked in their Brockton apartment.
Copyright 2009 Boston Herald Inc.