Eddie Ray Routh, a former Marine Corps veteran, was convicted of shooting Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield to death at a Texas shooting range in 2013.
In order to help Routh deal with his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after leaving the service, Kyle, a former Navy SEAL and the author of the best-selling autobiography “American Sniper,” offered to take him to a shooting range.
Routh’s mother had asked Kyle for assistance and he frequently collaborated with other veterans.
Routh gave his justification for shooting both men in a confessional audio that was shown at the trial.
He thought Littlefield and Kyle were “headhunters, attempting to hunt down everyone.” If I didn’t take down his soul, he was going to take down mine, according to Routh.
He acknowledged in the video that he knew killing them was bad and that he regretted doing it.
He added that if he could, he would apologise to the families. Routh said that he shot them because they would not talk to him four months after the shooting, according to a former Erath County Sheriff’s Deputy.
I’m sorry, but they wouldn’t talk to me, he said. They probably pardoned me.
While witnesses for the prosecution testified that they believed Routh was fabricating schizophrenia, Routh’s attorneys asserted that he was mad at the time of the murders.
Because the prosecution decided without seeking the death penalty, the judge gave him a life sentence without the chance of release.
It was revealed during the trial that Kyle texted a friend sitting next to him in a pickup vehicle moments before he was killed, calling Routh “crazy.”
Kyle, who had been assisting other veterans in overcoming the psychological wounds left behind by war, drove Routh to the shooting range.
Defense lawyer Tim Moore claims that Kyle texted Littlefield, “This dude is straight up nuts,” as the three men were driving to the shooting range.
The jury, made up of 10 women and 2 men, was instructed by the prosecution that Routh shot Kyle and Littlefield “knowingly and purposefully” while he was aware of what he was doing.
Although the defence did not contest that Routh shot the men, they argued that he should be exonerated due to insanity.
They contended that he shot the two men while experiencing a paranoid schizophrenic episode and was unaware of the wrongness of his acts.
They claimed that Routh had PTSD, which was brought on by his abroad assignments.
Taya, Kyle’s widow, was the trial’s first witness to be summoned. She claimed that her spouse had a stellar reputation for being a skilled shooter and soldier.
When she spoke to him on the phone at the shooting range, she realised something was amiss. She added, “I could sense something was up,” adding that Kyle answered the phone quickly, probably to keep Routh from hearing his annoyance. “I sent the text ‘Are you OK? I’m starting to worry,” she remarked. There was no reaction.
A police officer informed her that her husband’s pickup truck was being sought after after a short period of time. She soon discovered her husband had passed away.
Littlefield’s body was discovered on a shooting platform, according to emergency medical personnel and staff at the lodge where the shooting range was located, while Kyle’s body was discovered in the ground a short distance away.
There were no signs of life, and both were covered in blood. Taya Kyle said how her husband was able to broach difficult subjects with soldiers adjusting to life after war thanks to their shared love of target practise.