Killer of 'American Sniper' gets life

26 February 2015 - 02:28 By Reuters
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Eddie Ray Routh was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Tuesday after a Texas jury found him guilty of murdering Chris Kyle, the former US Navy Seal whose autobiography was turned into the hit movie American Sniper.

Routh, 27, a former US Marine, was found guilty of fatally shooting Kyle and Kyle's friend, Chad Littlefield, multiple times at a gun range about 110km southwest of Fort Worth in February 2013.

Prosecutors said he ambushed the two from the back, waiting for Kyle to unload his weapon at the range before he attacked with a barrage of gunshots.

Kyle became entrenched in US popular culture for his best-selling autobiography, American Sniper, which was published in January 2012. The book was adapted into a movie last year.

The film, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Bradley Cooper, was nominated in six categories at the 87th Academy Awards but won only the best sound editing Oscar.

After leaving military service, Kyle, who battled his own mental demons, helped counsel troubled veterans with talks and trips to shooting ranges. He had driven Routh to the range with Littlefield.

Prosecutors did not go for the death penalty and had been seeking a life sentence without parole.

Defence lawyers argued that Routh was a paranoid schizophrenic and should be declared innocent by reason of insanity.

Prosecutor Jane Starnes said Routh acted coldly and deliberately when he gunned down the two and then plotted his escape.

"That is not insanity. That is just cold, calculated capital murder," she said.

Defence lawyers said Routh had been to hospitals four times because of his mental illness and was diagnosed as psychotic.

"He killed those men because he had a delusion. He believed in his mind that they were going to kill him," Warren St John said.

The judge told jurors they could find a person innocent by reason of insanity if the defendant did not know the conduct was wrong due to a severe mental defect or illness.

A forensics expert said Kyle and Littlefield were shot in the back at close range.

"He [Kyle] absolutely never saw this coming," said crime scene analyst Howard Ryan.

Prosecutors said the two were shot by 12 or 13 bullets and that Routh put on an act to get out of trouble.

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