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 Johnson County District Court Judge Thomas Kelly Ryan sentenced
Frazier Glenn Cross, 74, to die by lethal injection.
A jury in early September convicted Cross, a former senior member of
the Ku Klux Klan, of the murders and recommended that he be put to
death. Cross also was convicted of three counts of attempted murder
for shooting at three other people.
The jury found Cross guilty 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.
After the judge announced his decision, Cross gave the "Heil Hitler"
salute and was forcibly removed from the courtroom.
On the way out, Cross said, "One day my spirit will rise from the
grave and you'll know I was right. I'm a happy man."
Cross said in court on Tuesday, as he did during the trial, that he
wanted to kill Jews because he believes they control the media,
financial institutions and the government.
"Jews are destroying the white race," he said, calling himself a
patriot. None of those he killed were Jewish.
In court statements before the sentencing, several relatives of
victims denounced Cross for his views and spoke of their painful
losses. Cross, a military veteran, sat at a court table in a wheel
chair, sometimes glancing up at those who spoke at the podium.
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Will Corporon, son of William Corporon, glared at Cross as he
talked.
"You are a coward," he said. "You are not a patriot. You are a
disgrace to the uniform you wore."
Cross, representing himself in court, said on Tuesday he should be
released because he was justified in trying to kill Jews.
"I wanted to kill Jews, not Christians and I do regret it," Cross
said. During the trial he faulted the victims for associating with
Jews by going to Jewish centers.
Melinda Corporon, wife of William Corporon, told Cross he has never
known love.
“We are here today to make sure this voice of evil is silenced
permanently,” she said.
Kansas restored the death penalty in 1994; no one has been executed
in the state since 1965.
(Reporting by Kevin Murphy in Kansas City; Editing by Mary
Wisniewski, Alan Crosby and Leslie Adler)
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