Eddie Ray Routh was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison, without possibility of parole, for the murder of Chris Kyle, a member of the Navy SEALS, who inspired the movie American Sniper, and his friend Chad Littlefield. The crime took place February 2013, in a shooting range in North Texas, where the three men were practicing shooting, in an attempt to help Routh, a former Marine who suffered psychological problems after serving in Iraq and Haiti.
Confessed to the crime, the best chance of the defense was stating the mental state of insanity of the defendant, resulting from post-traumatic stress after military service, and delusions of schizophrenia in order to get his innocence.
However, a forensic psychologist's report, Dr. Randall Price, concluded that Routh did not suffer from insanity, but suffered from a paranoid disorder that worsened with the consumption of alcohol and marijuana, known as "cannabis-induced psychosis."
Described by the prosecution as a consumer of problematic drugs, but with a sense of right and wrong, regardless of any mental disorder, the former Marine was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole by the jury of ten women and two men. The trial took place over two weeks in the city of Stephenville, Texas. It was especially mediatic because one of the victims is the main character of American Sniper, with Bradley Cooper as protagonist and nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Chris Kyle was awarded the title of most lethal sniper in the history of the US Army, with 255 murders, 160 confirmed by the Department of US Defense, in the four raids on Iraq in which he participated. Controversial figure, considered a hero by some, and despised by others, received several of the highest military decorations for acts of heroism, including two silver medals, five bronze medals, one medal praise Navy and Marines, two medals for heroic deeds of the Navy and Marine Corps, among many other personal awards.
Kyle was discharged from the US Navy in 2009 and later wrote the autobiographical book American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in US Military History, which quickly became a bestseller and inspired the aforementioned movie from Clint Eastwood.
