A Kansas jury recommended on Tuesday that a white supremacist be sentenced to death for shooting and killing three people, including a boy, outside two Jewish centers last year.
Frazier Glenn Cross, 74, a former senior member of the Ku Klux Klan who has been representing himself in court, turned towards the jury after the verdict was read and said with a smile: “Thank you.”
He was found guilty last month of killing Reat Underwood, 14, and his grandfather, William Corporon, 69, outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City, and Terri LaManno, 53, outside a Jewish retirement home, both in Overland Park, Kansas. The jury also convicted Cross of three counts of attempted murder for shooting at three other people.
Cross admitted during the trial that he committed the killings and said he had wanted to kill as many Jews as he could. None of those killed were Jewish.
He gave a Nazi salute to the jury, and declared “Death to the Jews” at the end of his closing statement before the jury retired to consider his sentence.
Cross, also known as Glenn Miller, said Jews control the media, financial institutions and the movie industry and he blamed Jewish women for backing a movement that led to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1973 to legalize abortion.
At the end of his closing statement on Tuesday, Cross dared jurors to give him the death penalty.
“I voluntarily sacrificed my freedom for my people,” Cross said. “Do you see fear in me? You see a proud white man.”
A hearing is set for Nov. 10 at which Johnson County District Judge Thomas Kelly Ryan will officially impose the sentence after considering any testimony and motions. Ryan said Cross has an automatic right to appeal.
Several relatives of the murder victims were seated in the front rows of the courtroom when the jury came in with the penalty verdict, but they showed little reaction. Later, on the steps of the courthouse, Corporon's son, Tony Corporon, read a statement as his mother, Melinda Corporon, stood by his side.
“Today we have witnessed justice in action,” Corporon said.
William LaManno, husband of Terri LaManno, said the system worked.
“I believe the criminal justice system worked effectively and the people from the state of Kansas have spoken loud and clear,” LaManno said. “Three peoples' lives were taken needlessly because of ignorance and unfounded hatred.”
