Routh called an ‘American Disgrace’ after guilty verdict

Moments after Eddie Ray Routh was sentenced to life in prison without parole for gunning down American Sniper author Chris Kyle and his friend, Chad Littlefield, the men’s fathers confronted the killer.

“You took the lives of two heroes, men who tried to be a friend to you,” Kyle’s stepfather, Jerry Richardson, told Routh on Tuesday night. “You became an American Disgrace.”

Littlefield’s father, Don, told Routh that, although his son was not in the military, he honored and served veterans.

“He was trying to help,” Don Littlefield said. “Chad had a quiet nature and was a good listener. He cared about people and he gave you his time because he felt like you needed it.”

Don Littlefield took issue with the fact that Routh killed his son without even knowing his name.

“You confessed that you did not know his name when you brutally murdered him,” Don Littlefield said. “You will have the rest of your wasted life, each and every day, to remember his name. Let me remind you: His name was Chad Littlefield.

C-H-A-D L-I-T-T-L-E-F-I-E-L-D”

After hearing nine days of testimony from more than 30 witnesses, it took an Erath County jury just 2 ½ hours to convict Routh, 27, of capital murder for fatally shooting Littlefield and Kyle on Feb. 2, 2013, at a sport shooting range at Rough Creek Lodge, a luxury resort southwest of Glen Rose.

Kyle, 38, and Littlefield, 35, had taken Routh — a troubled Marine veteran whom they had never met — to the range in an effort to bond with him and help him cope with civilian life.

Because prosecutors waived the death penalty, Routh received an automatic life sentence with no possibility for parole.

The speed of the jury’s verdict, which was read by state District Judge Jason Cashon just before 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, suggested that the jury did not give much credence to Routh’s claim that he was insane at the time of the killings. If Routh had been found not guilty by reason of insanity, he would have been committed to a state mental institution for an unspecified period — an outcome that the attorneys, by law, were not allowed to disclose to the jury.

The jury got the case on Tuesday afternoon after hearing lengthy and emotional closing arguments that prompted Kyle’s widow, Taya Kyle, to storm out of the courtroom, presumably upset by a defense attorney’s statements.

During the two-week trial, defense attorneys Warren St. John, Tim Moore and Shay Isham argued that Routh was suffering from a severe mental disease or defect at the time of the slayings and did not know his conduct was wrong. The defense team contended that Routh was schizophrenic and he believed that Kyle and Littlefield were pig hybrids and that he had to kill them before they killed him.

Erath County District Attorney Alan Nash and Assistant Attorney General Jane Starnes, meanwhile, maintained that Routh’s mental problems were a result of chronic marijuana abuse and suggested that Routh claimed mental illness every time he got into trouble to avoid going to jail.

“He was setting up his defense and he comes up with this preposterous hybrid pig story,” Starnes told the jury during her closing argument. “You know that is a load of hogwash.”

They suggested that on the day of the slayings, Routh had been drinking and smoking marijuana and felt slighted by Littlefield and Kyle, who didn’t shake his hand and barely spoke to him on the drive to Rough Creek Lodge.

“There is the motive right there,” Starnes said. “They got killed for not talking to this guy.”

Starnes told the jury that Routh’s actions were deliberate, calculated and cold. She reminded the jury that Routh shot Kyle with a .45-caliber pistol six times, including in the jaw, side and back.

“…This awesome skilled marksman survived four tours of duty in Iraq and he died face-down in the dirt at a luxury resort shooting range,” Starnes said.

Littlefield was shot at least six times with a 9mm handgun, including twice in the back and once in the head, face and hand. After he was shot in the back, he fell to his knees and then received two more shots to his head and face.

“As Chad lay dying, he went around and he shot him in the top of the head and the face — not to prevent him from getting him up but to finish him off,” Starnes said. “He didn’t just want Chad dead. He wanted Chad dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead.”

Starnes told the jury that Routh’s actions and statements after the slayings show that he knew his conduct was wrong — including reloading the 9mm gun used to kill Littlefield, fleeing the scene, leading police on a high speed chase and confessing to Texas Ranger Danny Briley.

“Crazy don’t run,” she said. “They stay there at the scene.”

In their final summation, the defense team lambasted the prosecution’s suggestion that Routh was intoxicated and experiencing “cannabis-induced psychosis” at the time of the slayings — not schizophrenia. They said Routh’s actions after the slayings — including stopping to get two bean burritos — show he didn’t know his conduct was wrong.

“He didn’t know his conduct was wrong because he went to Taco Bell,” St. John said. “It sounds silly but it’s true. Why would a man who just killed someone go and get something to eat?”

“… He killed those men because he had a delusion. He believed in his mind that they were going to kill him…. He was not intoxicated, he was psychotic.”

During his final argument, DA Nash fired back. He said it was time for Routh’s “deep well of excuses for violent criminal behavior to come to an end.”

“The guy is a doper,” Nash said. “He won’t stay off dope. We are talking about hard-core cannabis abuse.”

Nash said Routh’s “true colors” came out on the day of the shootings.

“Ladies and gentleman, you have learned a lot about what the defendant is capable of,” Nash said. “You learned that he is capable of gunning down two people in the back. You learned that he is capable of executing a man while he is down and you learned that he is capable of dreaming up excuses to get his hide out of trouble at a convenient time.

“…He wasn’t one bit sorry for what he did. You know why? Because he knew it was wrong.”

Later, as Judge Cashon read the verdict, Routh stood stoically next to his defense team. Moments later, Kyle and Littlefield’s fathers addressed him in victim impact statements.

“Your childish actions have brought humiliation to you and your family, and they will forever carry the scar of what you have become — a murderer,” Richardson said. “Your claims of PTSD have been an insult to every veteran who served with honor…. You wanted to be a Marine, a real man, but you destroyed that opportunity by committing a senseless act.”

Don Littlefield told Routh that, although he and his familty feel tremendous hurt, they will not become angry, bitter or resentful.

“That would keep us bound to you and you do not deserve that honor,” he said.

Later, Chad Littlefield’s mom, Judy, gave a tearful statement to the media outside the Donald R. Jones Justice Center in Stephenville.

“We’ve waited two years for God to get justice for us on behalf of our son and, as always, God has proved to be faithful.”

@melodymlanier

This story was originally published February 25, 2015 at 11:05 AM with the headline "Routh called an ‘American Disgrace’ after guilty verdict."