A 74-year-old white supremacist convicted of killing three people at two Jewish Kansas City sites in April 2014, gave the Nazi salute to jurors at his trial on Monday.
Frazier Glenn Miller Jr., 74 did not know that none of his victims were Jewish at the time he pointed his gun, but reportedly regretted that when he later found out.
A Vietnam War veteran who founded the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in his native North Carolina, Miller later also founded the White Patriot Party. He ran on a White Power platform for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006 and the U.S. Senate in 2010 in Missouri.
Defending himself in the trial with a standby counsel, Miller claimed the nature of his crime would allow him to die as a “martyr.” He objected when District Attorney Steve Howe, who alleged he wanted to kill as many people as possible, correcting the prosecutor: “I wanted to kill Jews, not people.”
In his closing statement he wrote on a white board, “Diversity is a code word for white genocide!”
Howe told the court in his closing arguments against Miller, “He wants to be the one who decides who lives and dies.”
Miller had pleaded not guilty to the charges despite admitting to killing his three victims, because he said it was his “duty” to stop what he believed was a genocide against the white race.
The seven men and five women of the jury took just over two hours to find Miller guilty on one count of capital murder, three counts of attempted murder, and charges of assault and weapons possession.
“The fat lady just sang,” Miller proclaimed in response to the verdict, raising his right arm in a Nazi salute to the jury. As the 12 jurors filed out of the courtroom, he called after them, “You probably won’t sleep tonight.”
In response, the judge reminded him that same jury would decide the length of his sentence – and for that matter, whether he lives or dies.
The sentencing phase of proceedings is set to begin today (Tuesday, Sept. 1).