Racist Gunman Could Get Death Penalty

OLATHE, Kan. (CN) - A white supremacist who killed three people in a shooting rampage at two Jewish centers last year will be tried for capital murder, a Kansas judge ruled on Tuesday.

Preliminary hearing testimony started Monday and wrapped up Tuesday, when Johnson County District Judge Kelly Ryan found probable cause to try F. Glenn Miller for capital murder and five other felony counts.

Miller aka Frazier Glenn Cross, 74, shot and killed William Corporon, 69, and his 14-year-old grandson, Reat Underwood, outside the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, where Reat planned to participate in a "KC Superstar" talent competition. A few minutes later, Miller shot Terri LaManno, 53, outside the Village Shalom care center, where she was visiting her mother.

Miller, a former KKK member who has emphysema and has said he felt it was his duty to kill Jews before he died, drove from Southern Missouri to Overland Park on April 13, 2014 with a flyer for the talent show in the seat beside him and a shotgun and cache of ammunition in his trunk.

Miller shot Corporan and Underwood in the head at close range and LaManno in the neck, a coroner testified Tuesday. When police officers arrested Miller, he was eager to know how many Jews he had killed, according to a police officer's testimony.

As it turned out, all three of Miller's victims were Christian.

When Miller was wheeled into the courtroom on Monday, hooked up to an oxygen tank, he raised one cuffed hand a few inches above his thigh in what appeared to be a shackled "Heil Hitler" gesture.

Throughout this week's hearing, Miller's frequent outbursts included shouting racial and anti-Semitic epithets aimed at those he believed to be his victims' families in the courtroom and telling spectators that they could find his motivation for the killings on a white supremacist website.

In news video from NBC affiliate KSHB-TV, Miller turned to court spectators and said, "I very much regret the little boy. I mistook him for a 20- or 21-year-old Jew. That's what I thought he was. But I regret that very much."

On Tuesday, Miller got angry with a judge who would not allow him to speak about his request for Internet access.

"I don't even want to participate in this trial if you're going to gag me. You just want to protect the Jews. You don't want me to tell the truth about the Jews," Miller said.

Miller's arraignment is scheduled for March 27. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

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