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Man accused of Jewish site shootings to appear in court

By Associated Press - | Jun 10, 2015

? A Missouri man facing capital murder charges in Kansas is scheduled to be in court Wednesday for a hearing on motions in his case, one asking a judge to let him stay in the courtroom during recesses and another to suppress certain evidence.

Frazier Glenn Miller Jr., 74, of Aurora, Missouri, is accused of killing three people last year at two Jewish sites in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, Kansas.

The avowed white supremacist has told various media outlets, including The Associated Press, he is dying from emphysema and went to the sites with the intent to kill Jewish people.

All three of the victims of the April 13, 2014, rampage — William Lewis Corporon, 69, his 14-year-old grandson, Reat Griffin Underwood, and Terri LaMano, 53 — were Christians.

Also known as Frazier Glenn Cross, Miller got permission last month from Johnson County District Judge Kelly Ryan to fire his attorneys and represent himself. However, Ryan ruled that the attorneys would stay involved in the case on a stand-by basis and could be restored as Miller’s counsel if he gets kicked out of the courtroom during his trial or decides he wants them back.

The judge remained composed during the hearing as Miller repeatedly interrupted him, declaring that he wanted to be a martyr and that the only way he would be able to speak his mind in court was to represent himself.

In a motion filed Tuesday, Miller asked that he be allowed to remain in the courtroom during recesses. Because of his chronic emphysema, he uses a wheelchair with an oxygen tank at his side.

He also wants the judge to suppress statements made by witnesses and physical evidence collected at the crime scene, which the state opposes.

Miller’s trial is scheduled for August. He’s insisted on a speedy trial over the objections of his attorneys, who have said the date doesn’t leave enough time to mount a competent defense in the death penalty case.

Last month, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe told the court that Miller’s attorneys had twice sought a deal in which he would plead guilty if the death penalty were removed from the table, but the prosecutor rejected both requests.

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. He also ran for the U.S. House in 2006 and the U.S. Senate in 2010 in Missouri, each time espousing a white-power platform.