“American Sniper” Trial: Guilty Verdict Reached in Double Murder Case
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Paul Moseley/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/MCT via Getty Images(STEPHENVILLE, Texas) — A Texas jury on Tuesday night found a former Marine guilty of murdering famed Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle and Kyle’s friend, Chad Littlefield.
Eddie Ray Routh had been on trial for the February 2013 murders of Kyle and Littlefield at a Texas gun range.
The judge instructed the jury of 10 women and two men that they were to consider three possible decisions: guilty, not guilty, or not guilty by reason of insanity.
State prosecutors had made it clear that they would not be seeking the death penalty in the case. Routh receives an auomatic life sentence.
Routh pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and his attorneys had argued that the former Marine had mental disorders and was in the grips of psychosis when he fatally shot Kyle and Littlefield during a trip to a gun range on Feb. 2, 2013.
During the 9-day trial, the prosecution and the defense had presented dueling testimony from mental health experts about whether Routh was insane when he committed the murders. Under Texas law, even if a person was suffering from a mental illness, they can be found guilty as long as they understood that what they did was wrong.
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