This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-31617308
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Eddie Ray Routh guilty of American Sniper Chris Kyle's murder | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Eddie Ray Routh has been found guilty of the murder of US Navy Seal Chris Kyle, who wrote American Sniper, and a second man by a Texas jury. | |
| The judge sentenced him to life in prison without parole; prosecutors had not sought the death penalty. | |
| Defence lawyers for Routh had claimed the 27-year-old was psychotic at the time of the shootings two years ago. | |
| But prosecutors said Routh was aware of what he was doing when he gunned the pair down at a Texas gun range in 2013. | |
| The film based on Kyle's memoir of his four tours of duty in Iraq was nominated for best film at the Oscars this year. | |
| The former Navy Seal, who has the most recorded kills of any US sniper, was shot and killed along with his friend Chad Littlefield at a rural shooting range south-west of Fort Worth. | The former Navy Seal, who has the most recorded kills of any US sniper, was shot and killed along with his friend Chad Littlefield at a rural shooting range south-west of Fort Worth. |
| Having retired from the military Kyle had been helping other veterans deal with combat-related stress and mental health issues. | |
| Routh, who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, was under extreme mental distress and was convinced the two men would turn on him on the day of the killing, his lawyers argued. | |
| The court also heard that Routh was under the influence of marijuana and alcohol at the time of the shooting. | |
| Defence lawyers said Routh had been more mentally affected by the time he spent helping earthquake relief efforts in Haiti with the Marines in 2010. | |
| He had pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder on grounds of insanity. | |
| As prosecutors had not sought the death penalty, the sentence of life imprisonment without parole was imposed automatically by the judge. |