OLATHE, Kan. -- A judge on Tuesday followed a jury's recommendation and sentenced an avowed anti-Semite to death for the fatal shootings of three people at Kansas Jewish sites.
Johnson County District Judge Thomas Kelly Ryan imposed the sentence for Frazier Glenn Miller Jr., who was convicted of one count of capital murder, three counts of attempted murder, and assault and weapons charges for the April 2014 shootings in suburban Kansas City. The same jury that convicted him in August recommended that Miller be sentenced to death.
"Your attempt to bring hate to this community, to bring terror to this community, has failed," Ryan said sternly before sentencing Miller to die by lethal injection. "You have failed, Mr. Miller."
Upon Ryan's announcement, Miller yelled "Heil Hitler" and was removed from the courtroom.
Miller said he shot his victims because he wanted to kill Jewish people before he dies. He suffers from chronic emphysema and has said he doesn't have long to live. A doctor testified during trial that Miller is ill and likely has five or six years left.
All three of his victims were Christians.
He killed William Corporon, 69, and Corporon's 14-year-old grandson, Reat Griffin Underwood, at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Kan. He then shot 53-year-old Terri LaManno at the nearby Village Shalom retirement center.
Thirteen people addressed the court Tuesday afternoon either in person or through written statements, including family members of the victims.
One of them was 13-year-old Lukas Losen, Reat's brother and Corporon's grandson, who said he spent his 13th birthday at a psychiatric center. Few eyes in the crowded courtroom stayed dry as he described watching his grandmother "try to exist with a broken heart."
"On that afternoon, I lost my childhood in a split second," said Lukas, his voice quivering as he brushed tears away.
A Section on 11/11/2015