'American Sniper' Killer Found Guilty, Sentenced to Life without Parole
- Updated Feb 25, 2015
Eddie Ray Routh was sentenced to life in prison without parole Tuesday.
According to Christian Today, a jury in Texas found Routh guilty of killing Chris Kyle, the former US Navy Seal with the most confirmed kills of any military sniper in the US.
Routh, a 27-year-old former U.S. Marine, was also found guilty of murdering Kyle’s friend, Chad Littlefield. Reports say that Routh got behind Kyle and Littlefield and opened fire on them at a gun range southwest of Fort Worth in February 2013.
"You took the lives of two heroes, men that tried to be a friend to you. You became an American disgrace," Littlefield's brother-in-law, Jerry Richardson, said.
The jury took about two hours to reach a verdict. Routh’s defense argued that Routh was a paranoid schizophrenic and was innocent by reason of insanity.
“That is not insanity. That is just cold, calculated capital murder,” said prosecutor Jane Starnes.
Prosecutors said that the men were shot together between 12 to 13 times.
“He (Kyle) absolutely never saw this coming,” said crime scene analyst Howard Ryan.
According to police video, Routh confessed to murdering the men. He also told a reporter in a prison phone call that he shot Littlefield first because he was upset he had come to the range.
Publication date: February 25, 2015
