F. Glenn Miller deserves death for killings outside Jewish facilities, jury says

OLATHE, Kan. F. Glenn Miller Jr., the unrepentant killer of three people, including a 14-year-old boy, should be sentenced to death, a Johnson County jury decided Tuesday.

The 74-year-old retired Army Green Beret and self-described anti-Semite turned his back to the jurors as they re-entered the courtroom Tuesday afternoon after reaching a unanimous verdict.

After hearing it, Miller turned toward them and said: “Thank you.”

But that attitude didn’t last.

As District Judge Kelly Ryan gave the jury final instructions, Miller blurted, “You are a bunch of sheep.”

“Mr. Miller, that’s enough,” Ryan said.

“What are you going to do about it?” Miller asked.

Ryan ordered Miller removed from the courtroom.

The jurors deliberated about 90 minutes, including time to eat lunch, before opting for a death sentence over life in prison without parole.

Eight days ago, the same jury found Miller guilty of capital murder in the April 13, 2014, shotgun slayings of William Corporon, 69, his 14-year-old grandson, Reat Underwood, and Terri LaManno, 53.

Corporon and his grandson were killed outside the Jewish Community Center. LaManno was shot a few minutes later outside the Village Shalom care center where she had gone to visit her mother.

During closing arguments Tuesday morning, Miller gave a lengthy screed about his anti-Jewish beliefs, repeating the same theme of his courtroom testimony during trial.

He dared jurors to sentence him to death, calling them “whores of the Jews.” He said he wanted no mercy.

He finished his presentation with a Nazi salute and a “heil Hitler.”

District Attorney Steve Howe told jurors not to buy into Miller’s “reverse psychology games.”

Howe argued that the law and evidence of Miller’s “evil deeds” supported a death sentence.

Pointed to aggravating circumstances to support the death sentence, Howe told the jurors that Miller killed more than one person in a “heinous, atrocious or cruel manner.”

Mitigating circumstances to support a life sentence included Miller’s age, poor health, military service and his acceptance of responsibility.

Howe told jurors that they had seen firsthand what a hate crime looked like. He argued it was the kind of case for which the death penalty was made.

“The defendant has shown a total lack of remorse and total contempt for anyone who dares to be different from him,” Howe said.

Last week, the jury also found Miller guilty of three counts of attempted first-degree murder for shooting at three other people that day outside the Jewish Community Center and Village Shalom retirement community.

Though none of the people he killed was Jewish, Miller testified that he thought they were. He said he was trying to kill as many Jewish people as he could.

According to testimony during the two-week trial, Miller, also known as Frazier Glenn Cross Jr., drove from his home in southern Missouri in a car loaded with guns and ammunition.

He chose the date because a teen singing competition was being held at the center and he thought there would be a large number of people attending.

In the parking lot, he spotted Corporon and his grandson, who was a participant in the competition. Miller parked behind them, got a shotgun out of his car trunk, and shot Corporon in the head.

He then turned the shotgun on the boy and shot him in the head. Miller said he thought Reat was 20 years old.

Miller then fired numerous shots into the community center, before driving away. He went to the nearby Village Shalom where he encountered LaManno in the parking lot. He shot her at close range with a shotgun. He pointed the gun at another woman and asked her if she was a Jew. When she said no, he put the gun away and drove off.

Overland Park police arrested him a few minutes later.

“How many did I get?” Miller asked officers, according to testimony.

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