“That’s what got me all riled up.”ĭefence attorneys said Routh, who had been prescribed anti-psychotic medication often used for schizophrenia, believed the men planned to kill him. You shoot,” Routh said in the phone call. “Are you gonna shoot? Are you gonna shoot? It’s a shooting sport. Randall Price said Routh had a paranoid disorder made worse by his use of alcohol and marijuana, calling his condition “cannabis-induced psychosis.”ĭefence attorneys noted that Kyle had described Routh as “straight-up nuts” in a text message to Littlefield as they drove to the luxury resort.Īmong evidence entered by prosecutors was a recorded phone call between Routh and a reporter from The New Yorker magazine in which Routh said he was annoyed Littlefield wasn’t shooting, but instead seemed to be watching him. ![]() Family members say Routh suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from serving in Iraq and in Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake.Ī forensic psychologist testified for prosecutors that Routh was not legally insane and suggested he might have got some of his ideas from television. ![]() Kyle and Littlefield had taken Routh to the shooting range at Rough Creek Lodge and Resort on February 2, 2013, after Routh’s mother asked Kyle to help her troubled son. If found not guilty by reason of insanity, the court could have initiated proceedings to have him committed to a state mental hospital. Jurors had three options: find Routh guilty of capital murder, find him not guilty, or find him not guilty by reason of insanity. ![]() Photo: ReutersĬriminal law experts said the verdict hinged on whether the defence could prove Routh was insane and did not know the killings were wrong at the time they were committed. Jurors rejected claims that former Marine Eddie Ray Routh was insane at the time of the murders. While trial testimony and evidence often included Routh making odd statements and referring to insanity, he also confessed several times, apologised for the crimes and tried to evade police. The prosecution painted Routh as a troubled drug user who knew right from wrong, despite any mental illnesses. You became an American disgrace," Littlefield’s brother-in-law, Jerry Richardson, said of Routh in court after the sentence was handed down. "You took the lives of two heroes, men that tried to be a friend to you. Since prosecutors didn’t seek the death penalty in the capital murder case, the 27-year-old receives an automatic life sentence without parole in the deaths of Kyle and Kyle’s friend, Chad Littlefield. Kyle, officially credited with killing 160 people during four military tours, was lionised in the blockbuster film starring Bradley Cooper as the soldier. The trial of Eddie Ray Routh has drawn intense interest, in part because of the blockbuster Oscar-nominated film based on former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle’s memoir about his four tours in Iraq. Photo: APĪ former Marine was convicted on Tuesday in the deaths of the American Sniper author and another man at a shooting range two years ago, as jurors rejected defence arguments that he was insane and suffered from psychosis. Chris Kyle killed at least 160 people as a sniper in Iraq.
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