Texas man convicted in killing of 'American Sniper'

A former Marine has been sentenced to life in prison without parole after being convicted of murdering the US Navy Seal whose story inspired the blockbuster movie "American Sniper."
After deliberating for less than three hours, jurors unanimously rejected claims from Eddie Ray Routh, 27, that he was not guilty on grounds of insanity when he killed famed sniper Chris Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield at a Texas shooting range in February 2013.
The two-week trial in Erath County, about 160 kilometers southwest of Dallas, attracted massive media attention across America. And it coincided with the release of Clint Eastwood's controversial movie based on Kyle's experiences in Iraq.

The jury of two men and 10 women found Routh guilty with a unanimous vote.
Erath County District Court Judge Jason Cason sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. It was a capital case, but prosecutors took the death penalty off the table before the trial started, the Washington Post reported.
Kyle and Littlefield were killed after Routh's mother asked the Navy SEAL veteran to help her son with post-traumatic stress disorder, the Post said.

They picked him up in Kyle's pickup truck the day of the killings with plans to enjoy the shared hobby of shooting and offer some ways to help.

Kyle, a father of two, was shot six times with one of his own .45-caliber pistols, including a wound to the back that pierced his aorta and another to the jaw that caused a lethal spinal cord injury, the Post said.
Littlefield, a father of one, was hit seven times, including four that would have been instantly fatal, according to court testimony.
Judy Littlefield, the mother of Chad Littlefield, made a brief statement late yesterday after the verdict.
"We have waited two years for God to give us justice on behalf of our son, and God has proved to be faithful," she said.

"We are so thrilled that we have the verdict that we have."
Kyle, officially credited with killing 160 people during four military tours, was lionized in the blockbuster film starring Bradley Cooper as the sniper.