American domestic terrorist and former Ku Klux Klan member Frazier Glenn Miller, who killed three people during a shooting spree in two suburban Kansas City Jewish sites on Passover Eve in 2014, has filed an appeal to overturn his death penalty on the grounds that he was unfit to represent himself in the trial, the Kansas City Star reported on Monday.
Miller, also known as Glenn Cross, was convicted in 2015 on one count of capital murder, three counts of attempted murder, and assault and weapons charges after he chose to represent himself in court, arguing that his plan to "kill Jews" was justified since "Jews have too much power and must be stopped."
During the trial, he said he believes Jews have committed genocide against white people, and control both the media and Wall Street to the detriment of white Americans.
Miller made this argument even despite the fact that all three of his victims - William Corporon, 69, his grandson, Reat Griffin Underwood, 14, and 53-year old Terri LaManno - were Christians.
"I had no criminal intent, I had a patriotic intent to stop genocide against my people," he said, reportedly also yelling "Heil Hitler" upon receiving his death sentence.
Attorneys for Miller, who is now now 79 years old, claim that the court made a mistake by allowing Miller to represent himself and go on his racist and antisemitic screed in place of a defense, saying he was "fairly unbalanced" and that he had previously shown signs of mental illness.
Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe, who argued for Miller's conviction, said that the US constitution gives defendants the personal right to represent themselves regardless of whether they are capable of doing so well, and that this is what Miller wanted do in this case.
He called Miller’s defense a “hybrid-self representation,” with attorneys working on his behalf behind the scenes — a characterization which Miller's attorney, Reid Nelson, disputed.
Howe argued that Miller's long antisemitic screeds during the trial did not provide sufficient proof of mental illness, noting that Miller had methodically planned the killings in advance and was able to fully participate in all aspects of the trial, however antisemitically.
“Frankly, the death penalty was created for a case like this,” Howe told the Star, saying that it is limited to the “worst of the worst.”
Miller, a Vietnam War veteran, founded and served as "grand dragon" Carolina Knights of the KKK in 2000, later founding the White Patriot Party and running on a "white power" platform during his two failed Missouri Senate campaigns in 2006 and 2010.
Miller is one of 10 inmates currently on death row in Kansas, the Star reported. The state has not executed an inmate since 1965, a policy which is unlikely to change under the presidency of Joe Biden, who has pledged to pass legislation to eliminate the death penalty across the US.