WADE GOODWYN, BYLINE: In their closing arguments yesterday, prosecutors ridiculed the proposition that the defendant was legally insane. From Stephenville, Texas, NPR's Wade Goodwyn reports. Routh was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. Routh had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity of murdering former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and his friend, Chad Littlefield.
Eddie ray routh case trial#
Frackattack Photograph: left: Reuters right: Eric Tanner.A jury has found former Marine Corporal Eddie Routh guilty of capital murder in what's known as the "American Sniper" trial in Stephenville, Texas. Unfortunately for Kyle’s wife, there is no competency test for callousness. What started as a bizarre, ego-driven duel between two former sailors (Ventura served in the Navy during the nineteen-seventies) has devolved into a shameless display. The man known in his wrestling career as “the Body” announced that he planned to pursue his charges against Kyle’s wife, and two weeks ago, a judge permitted him to proceed. Kyle’s death scrambled the timetable, but not Ventura’s resolve. Both sides hired lawyers, took depositions, and prepared for a trial that was expected to begin as early as next month.
Eddie ray routh case professional#
Ventura, the governor of Minnesota and a one-time professional wrestler, reacted to the story by suing Kyle for defamation. He claimed, for instance, to have punched out Jesse Ventura at a bar in San Diego. Some of Kyle’s assertions in “American Sniper” have been challenged. According to “American Sniper,” he recorded more sniper kills than anyone in American history. His SEAL teammates had nicknamed him “the legend,” for his marksmanship skills.
His funeral procession may have been the longest in U.S. Kyle-a highly decorated former SEAL who wrote a best-selling memoir, “American Sniper,” and whose second book, “American Gun,” was published posthumously and is currently on the Times hardcover best-seller list-was buried in Texas State Cemetery following a memorial service in Cowboy Stadium.
Eddie ray routh case free#
Though trials are implicitly suspenseful and unpredictable events, the chances of Routh walking away a free man are slim. Due to the “unusually emotional nature” of the case, its “unique nature of security issues” and the “extensive local and national media coverage” that it has already received, the judge directed all relevant law enforcement and judicial bodies, as well as Routh and his family, to refrain from any interaction with the media that might “interfere with the defendant’s right to a fair trial.” It is one page, rehashing what has long been known: that “on or around the second day of February, AD, 2013 … intentionally and knowingly cause the death” of Kyle and Littlefield, and that both murders were “committed during the same criminal episode.” An additional three pages lay out the judge’s gag order, effective immediately. The indictment is itself a rather empty document.
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