White supremacist admits to three Kansas murders, seeks acquittal

Frazier Glenn Cross appears in court on murder charges in Olathe, Kansas
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Frazier Glenn Cross Jr, also known as Glenn Miller, sits in a Johnson County courtroom for a scheduling …

By Kevin Murphy
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OLATHE, Kan. (Reuters) - A white supremacist told a jury on Friday how he killed three people, including a boy, outside two Jewish centers in Kansas last year but asked that he be found not guilty because he believed that Jews have too much power and must be stopped.

None of the victims were Jewish.

Frazier Cross, 74, a former senior member of the Ku Klux Klan who is representing himself at trial, rested his case after testifying in his own defense.

The jury will return on Monday for closing statements and to deliberate.

He could be sentenced to death if convicted in the April 2014 shootings in Overland Park, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City. He also is charged with the attempted murder of three others.

Cross is charged with killing high school student Reat Underwood, 14, and Underwood's grandfather, 69-year-old William Corporon, outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City, as well as Terri LaManno, 53, outside a nearby Jewish retirement home.

Cross testified he pulled up to Corporon's car in the Jewish Community Center parking lot and shot him in the head while Corporon stood looking at him.

"He showed no fear," Cross said "He had a look of resignation like 'I'm going to die. This guy is going to shoot me'."

Cross said Underwood was sitting in the vehicle and he also shot him in the head. Cross said he then drove the retirement home about a mile (1.6 km) away and shot LaManno as she stood near her vehicle.

Cross said he did not learn that none of the victims were Jewish until six says later.

"Of course, I was devastated," he testified. He also testified to believing that his adult victims were accomplices of Jews by associating with them and supporting their facilities.

Cross told the court he believes Jews have committed genocide against white people, and control both the media and Wall Street.

"I had no criminal intent, I had a patriotic intent to stop genocide against my people," said Cross, who is also known as Glenn Miller.

He said in the days before committing the murders he researched what he sees as the demise of the white race and decided he had to take action.

Prosecutors this week presented witnesses, video and forensic evidence they said connects Cross to the killings.

(Editing by Sandra Maler)