Keller @ Large: Keith Luke Reason To Re-Evaluate Death Penalty

BOSTON (CBS) - Selma Goncalves, her friends and family say, was a warm person who loved samba dancing. She worked at a Brockton dry cleaner and studied English in hopes of going to college so she could, says a friend, "get a good job helping people."

Seventy-two year old Arlindo Goncalves was a homeless man described by friends as "harmless." He lived in a Brockton shelter and spent his days collecting cans.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

He and Selma Goncalves weren't related. All they really had in common was they weren't white, more than enough cause for Keith Luke, a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi, to murder them in cold blood three years ago, in the course of a crime spree where he raped a woman and tried to murder her along with several other bystanders, including a Brockton police officer.

If you haven't been following the trial of this creature, I don't blame you, it's been hard to watch because the defendant may be the single most repulsive specimen I've ever seen.

His lawyer doesn't dispute that he committed the crimes, only that he was so mentally ill he didn't know what he was doing, a long shot defense undercut by clear evidence of his careful pre-meditation.

Luckily for this violent, hate-filled animal, Massachusetts has no death penalty, an unlucky development for the convicts he will be living with for the rest of his miserable life. He poses a clear threat to the prisoners and guards.

And the thought of what it will cost to feed and clothe him for the next 50 years or so is infuriating.

Reasonable people can and do oppose the death penalty on principle.

But Keith Luke and the damage he has done and will do in the future should at least make you re-evaluate that opposition.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.