'American Sniper' Trial: Eddie Ray Routh Found Guilty in Shooting Death of Chris Kyle
Eddie Ray Routh, the former Marine who fatally shot real-life "American Sniper" Chris Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield, was found guilty of capital murder on Tuesday.
It took a Stephenville, Texas, jury just over two hours to reach the verdict following a two-week trial. Judge Jason Cashon wasted no time sentencing Routh to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
"We've waited two years for God to get justice for us on behalf of our son and, as always, God has proved to be faithful," said Judy Littlefield, the victim's mother. "We're so thrilled that we have the verdict that we have tonight."
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On Feb. 2, 2013, Kyle, a former Navy SEAL, and Littlefield were trying to help Routh overcome PTSD at a Texas gun range when they were gunned down by the troubled 27-year-old. Routh reportedly fatally shot the married father of two five times in the back and once in the head and also shot Littlefield four times in the back, once in the hand, once in the face and once on the top of his head.
Routh had pleaded "not guilty" to both shooting deaths by reason of insanity. During the trial his attorneys argued that he was experiencing a psychosis allegedly brought on by PTSD when he killed them and thus he could not be held accountable for the murders.
Jurors rejected Routh's insanity plea and convicted him of capital murder after deliberating for two and half hours.
Kyle served four tours in Iraq before leaving the military in 2009 to focus on family and he later became an advocate for veterans' mental health. He is widely considered to be the most lethal sniper in U.S. history for having 160 confirmed kills although this number is pegged much higher in his 2012 best-selling autobiography American Sniper.
The book set the premise for Hollywood filmmaker Clint Eastwood's blockbuster film of the same name. It recently scored six Academy Award nods and set a box office record by pulling in an estimated $105 million during its opening weekend.
Kyle's widow, Taya Kyle, said previously that her late husband should be remembered as being a man of faith who fought for the freedom of his country.
"There's an inaccurate stereotype of these guys, that they love war," Taya, 40, told people.com. "I can promise you, they don't love war. But they do love that fight for what they would say is justice for each other."
In his book, Kyle described war as "hell" and also opened up about how he believed his role in the Iraq war would affect him on judgment day.
"Every person I killed I strongly believe that they were bad," he wrote. "When I do go face God there is going to be lots of things I will have to account for but killing any of those people is not one of them."
Kyle himself pegged the number of his confirmed kills much higher than has been reported to around the 255 mark and in his book he said that he has few regrets about the killings.
"It was my duty to shoot the enemy, and I don't regret it. My regrets are for the people I couldn't save: Marines, soldiers, buddies. I'm not naive, and I don't romanticize war. The worst moments of my life have come as a SEAL. But I can stand before God with a clear conscience about doing my job," he wrote.
The Odessa, Texas, native was raised as a Christian as his father was a deacon and his mother was a Sunday school teacher, but he admitted that he was "not a perfect one." He had peace of mind about the war knowing that he had accepted Jesus as his Savior.
"I believe the fact that I've accepted Jesus as my savior will be my salvation," he wrote. "But in that backroom or whatever it is when God confronts me with my sins, I do not believe any of the kills I had during the war will be among them. Everyone I shot was evil. I had good cause on every shot. They all deserved to die."
