American sniper’s killer jailed for life
TROUBLED VETERAN ROUTH FOUND GUILTY OF CAPITAL MURDER IN PAIR’S KILLING
After a nine-day trial and about 2 1/2 hours of deliberation, a Texas jury convicted a troubled veteran of capital murder late on Tuesday in the slaying of American Sniper author Chris Kyle and another man.
State District Judge Jason Cashon immediately sentenced Eddie Ray Routh, 27, to life without possibility of parole in the fatal shootings of Kyle, 38, and friend Chad Littlefield, 35, during the trio’s trip to an outdoor shooting range on February 2, 2013.
Routh, a former Marine repeatedly hospitalised and treated for mental illness, confessed to the shootings but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He did not react as the judge read the verdict.
Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.
Routh’s trial drew attention to thorny questions surrounding post-traumatic stress.
Kyle’s widow, Taya, had left the courtroom during closing arguments and did not return for the verdict, sentencing or victim impact statements, which came late on Tuesday.
In his impact statement, Don Littlefield addressed Routh, telling him about his son’s “quiet nature” and calling him “a good listener” who “gave you his time because he felt you needed it.”
“The state of Texas has decided to spare your life, which is more than you were willing to give Chad,” he said, sobbing.
Littlefield’s brother, Jerry Richardson, also spoke emotionally in his statement.
“You took the lives of two heroes, men that tried to be a friend to you, and you became an American disgrace,” Richardson told Routh. “Your claims of PTSD have been an insult to every veteran who served with honour, disgracing a proud military with your cowardice.”
Closing remarks
When it was all over, Kyle’s parents, brother and other relatives emerged from court sobbing, and paused in a hallway to hug. Taya Kyle, 40, had been the state’s first witness. She returned to the gallery on Tuesday, muttering in frustration during defence attorneys’ closing remarks.
Earlier in the day, she had stayed as prosecutors displayed graphic crime scene photographs days after she had travelled to Los Angeles for the Oscars, where the movie American Sniper , based on Kyle’s book, won an Academy Award for sound editing. She carried her late husband’s dog tags on the red carpet.
No jurors spoke publicly on Tuesday night.