--- title: Eddie Ray Routh Found Guilty of Murdering 'American Sniper' Chris Kyle description: A Texas Jury unanimously found Chris Kyle's killer, Eddie Ray Routh, guilty of felony murder. He was sentenced to life without parole canonical: https://time.com/3721574/eddie-ray-routh-chris-kyle-guilty-chad-littlefield/ author: Kevin McSpadden article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-25T04:10:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:41:21.467Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Eddie Ray Routh Found Guilty of 'American Sniper' Murder og:description: The 27-year-old was sentenced to life without parole for murder of former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle og:url: https://time.com/3721574/eddie-ray-routh-chris-kyle-guilty-chad-littlefield/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa71c4b77955bb05/698780e2f887dc2da7e8a4bf/eddie-ray-routh1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Eddie Ray Routh appears in court on the opening day of his capital murder trial at the Erath County Donald R. Jones Justice Center on Feb. 11, 2015 in Stephenville, Texas. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Eddie Ray Routh Found Guilty of 'American Sniper' Murder twitter:description: The 27-year-old was sentenced to life without parole for murder of former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa71c4b77955bb05/698780e2f887dc2da7e8a4bf/eddie-ray-routh1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Eddie Ray Routh Found Guilty of Murdering _American Sniper_ Chris Kyle ## Video: 10 Questions with American Sniper Chris Kyle [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Questions with American Sniper Chris Kyle](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PpZTJML8.m3u8) (6:10)  _Published 2012-01-05. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, who earned two Silver Stars in Iraq, explains the sniper's point of view_ by [Kevin McSpadden](/author/kevin-mcspadden/) ## Kevin McSpadden Feb 25, 2015 4:10 AM CUT  Eddie Ray Routh appears in court on the opening day of his capital murder trial at the Erath County Donald R. Jones Justice Center on Feb. 11, 2015 in Stephenville, Texas. Eddie Ray Routh appears in court on the opening day of his capital murder trial at the Erath County Donald R. Jones Justice Center on Feb. 11, 2015 in Stephenville, Texas.Tom Fox—Getty Images by [Kevin McSpadden](/author/kevin-mcspadden/) ## Kevin McSpadden Feb 25, 2015 4:10 AM CUT A Texas jury on Tuesday found Eddie Ray Routh guilty of the murder of _American Sniper_ author Chris Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield. He was sentenced to life in prison. Routh, 27, a former Marine, admitted to killing ex-Navy SEAL Kyle and Littlefield at a shooting range in 2013, but professed his innocence because of supposedly suffering a psychotic break. Erath County district attorney Alan Nash told the jury to ignore Routh’s insanity defense, arguing that his apparent episodes of mental instability were caused by alcohol and marijuana abuse, according to the Associated Press. “I am tired of the proposition that if you have mental illness that you can’t be held responsible for what you do,” he said. Routh’s defense attorney Warren St. John insisted that his client was battling schizophrenia, claiming that the mental disorder created a delusion that [Kyle and Littlefield were going to kill him](http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2015/02/defense-expected-to-call-mental-health-experts-today-as-american-sniper-murder-trial-continues.html/ "undefined"). “He was not intoxicated, folks, he was psychotic,” he said. The case, heard in Stephenville, Texas, attracted national interest in large part because of Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-nominated film adaptation of Kyle’s book about his four tours during the Iraq war, with the controversial movie grossing over [$430 million worldwide](http://pro.boxoffice.com/statistics/movies/american-sniper-2014 "undefined"). Kyle was renowned as the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history with 160 confirmed kills. Littlefield’s mother, Judy, expressed her relief at the guilty verdict outside the courtroom, “We’ve waited two years for God to give justice for us on the behalf of our son,” she said in a [statement](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy4L5Y8eq0Q "undefined"). “And as usual, God has been faithful and given us the verdict we want.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3721574/eddie-ray-routh-chris-kyle-guilty-chad-littlefield/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3721574/eddie-ray-routh-chris-kyle-guilty-chad-littlefield/"},"headline":"Eddie Ray Routh Found Guilty of Murdering American Sniper Chris Kyle","datePublished":"2015-02-25T04:10:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:41:21.467Z","description":"The 27-year-old was sentenced to life in prison","url":"https://time.com/3721574/eddie-ray-routh-chris-kyle-guilty-chad-littlefield/","keywords":["Texas","Military","Crime","U.S.","Oscars","Academy Awards","Box-office","American Sniper"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa71c4b77955bb05/698780e2f887dc2da7e8a4bf/eddie-ray-routh1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kevin McSpadden","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kevin-mcspadden/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa71c4b77955bb05/698780e2f887dc2da7e8a4bf/eddie-ray-routh1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Eddie Ray Routh appears in court on the opening day of his capital murder trial at the Erath County Donald R. 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