Cross, also known as Frazier Glenn Miller, is a Vietnam War veteran who founded the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in his native North Carolina and later the White Patriot Party.
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Miller was also sentenced to a combined 394 months on three counts of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault and discharging a firearm into an occupied building, the Kansas City Star reported.
A jury recommended the death penalty for Cross for gunning down a man and his 14-year-old grandson outside the Jewish community center in the city of Overland Park.
Johnson County District Court Judge Thomas Kelly Ryan sentenced Frazier Glenn Cross, 74, to die by lethal injection.
Miller is an avowed anti-Semite who lived between Marionville and Aurora, Mo.
The 74-year-old white supremacist Cross meant to kill Jewish people, but ended up killing three Christians.
“I can’t say anything more profound than what was said here today”, Ryan told the courtroom.
“I sense that there is humanity in you”, she said. Several relatives of the murder victims sat in the front rows of the courtroom when the jury announced its verdict at the trial.
During the trial’s closing arguments, Steve Howe, the prosecutor, said that Miller’s actions “clearly are the type of case the death penalty is made for”. William Corporon’s son, Will, looked at Miller and said: “You are a coward”.
Thirteen people addressed the court Tuesday afternoon either in person or through written statements, including family members of the victims.
Mindy Corporon, William Corporon’s daughter and Reat Underwood’s mother, told Cross she would leave forgiveness to God. While Miller was motivated by a stated hatred of Jews, none of the people killed were Jewish.
“I thrive on hate”, he said.
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After the victim statements, though, he became defiant and spent almost an hour talking about how Jewish people were running the government, media and Federal Reserve.
