Closing Arguments in Brockton, Mass. Murder Trial

(NECN: Scot Yount, Brockton, Mass.) - "It is not a mental illness, he wants to rape and kill," Plymouth County Prosecutor Frank Middleton told the jury.

The question for jurors isn't whether Keith Luke shot two people to death, raped a young woman and tried to kill her, or shot at bystanders and police.

It is whether or not Luke suffered from mental illness at the time of attacks.

Luke was arrested after the crimes which took place in a Brockton home and in the streets of the city in January of 2009.

The 26 year old lost at least 100 lbs in jail after he was arrested shaved his head and at one point, scrawled a swastika into his forehead.

In closing arguments, Luke's attorney Joseph Kowski Jr. told the jury that Luke was insane at the time of the crimes and therefore cannot be held criminally responsible.

“Not only are there allegations of horrific acts, but the defendant might concede that they are true, and put into issue in this trial his lack of criminal responsibility," Defense Attorney Joseph Kowski Jr., told the jury.

Prosecutors said Luke was motivated by sexual frustration.  They allege he began planning the rape and murder after asking one of the victims out on a date and being rejected.

Prosecutors say Luke was fully in control of his faculties while planning the crimes up to a year before they say he carried them out, and that he didn't suffer from mental illness at the time of the crimes.

"On Jan. 21, 2009, he did not have a mental disease or defect, he wanted to kill, he wanted to rape, period, that is not a mental disease or defect," Middleton told the jury.

Copyright NECNMIGR - NECN
Contact Us