Medical experts for the state said they thought Routh had exaggerated his symptoms and also concluded he did not have PTSD. Immediately after the verdict one of Littlefield’s relatives, Jerry Richardson, read a victim impact statement in which he said Routh’s PTSD claims “have been an insult to every veteran who served with honor”.Ī psychiatrist called by the defence, Mitchell Dunn, said he believed that Routh did not have PTSD but was suffering from schizophrenia. “God Bless the Jury And good people of Stephenville, Texas!!” Insanity a tough sell in Texas “What a poetic morning when the snow is melting and the winter is thawing out promising a new day,” she wrote. Kyle’s widow, Taya, was not in court to hear the verdict but posted a message on Facebook on Wednesday. Routh was sentenced to life in prison without parole and is expected to appeal. “I am tired of the proposition that if you have a mental illness, you can’t be held responsible for what you do.” “The minute you start saying, if you served in the armed forces, we can’t hold you responsible for your crimes afterwards … we can’t trust you,” Nash said. In his closing arguments, district attorney Alan Nash sought to convince the jury that Routh was using mental illness as a way to escape responsibility for behaviour caused by his excessive use of marijuana and alcohol, and that such a defence was an insult to the honour of military veterans as well as the vast majority of people who endure health problems without committing crimes, such as cancer patients.

? Wait till the boys in TDC Find out you killed a TX hero.”Īhead of the trial, a veterans’ group, the Warfighter Foundation, was sceptical of claims that Routh had PTSD and put effort into trying to disprove the notion. To Eddie Ray Routh, you thought you had PTSD before. Marcus Luttrell, in a post liked by more than 130,000 users, wrote: “Justice served for Chris and the Littlefield family. The former Navy Seal who was the subject of the 2013 film Lone Survivor issued a scornful warning on his Facebook page soon after the verdict. But the extent of his illness and its cause were questioned by the prosecution and by some veterans. His defence was that he was in the middle of a psychotic episode when he shot dead Kyle and Littlefield at a gun range in February 2013. Routh, a former marine, had been given a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), spent time in several hospitals being treated for mental illness and had been prescribed anti-schizophrenia medication. And also, golly, just other evidence like his other convictions and his pattern of behaviours through his interviews with the specialists.” “He would get intoxicated, get in trouble,” said Yeager, one of six jurors who spoke to ABC News on Wednesday, “and then the police would show up and he would say, ‘I’m a veteran, I have PTSD, I’m insane.’ Every time something bad happened he’d pull that card. Routh, 27, was convicted of the murders after about two and a half hours of deliberations on Tuesday night, following nine days of testimony. Christina Yeager said Routh’s insanity defence regarding the deaths of Chris Kyle – the celebrated Navy Seal sniper who became the subject of a box-office hit film – and Chad Littlefield was not convincing because he had brought his problems on himself by abusing drugs and alcohol.

Eddie ray routh needs to be executed