![]() ![]() Stephenville Empire Tribune staff writer Autumn Owens contributed to this report. Prosecutors plan to call at least two rebuttal witnesses at 9 a.m. Routh left the Marines in 2010.ĭunn also looked at crime scene reports, police interviews and Routh's medical records. The doctor said Routh was displaying signs of schizophrenia as early as 2011, when he was first taken to the mental hospital. They said he acted as if he believed that someone was going to hurt him and that the government was listening to him.ĭunn, who interviewed Routh to determine his state of mind when he shot the men, testified that Routh described seeing neighbors and friends as turning into pig-human hybrids. Routh's friends and family have testified that his behavior in the weeks before the killings was increasingly erratic. Dunn said that after Routh returned to work, he thought two of his co-workers were cannibals who were going to harm him. Kyle had taken Routh to the shooting range after Routh's mother asked him to help her son.Ībout a week before the slayings, Routh had been released from the hospital after having a psychotic episode. Kyle served made more than 300 kills as a sniper for SEAL Team 3, according to his own count.Īfter leaving the military, he volunteered with veterans facing mental health problems, often taking them shooting. The trial has drawn intense interest, partly because of an Oscar-nominated film based on Kyle's memoir. In that case, the court could initiate civil proceedings to have Routh committed. Eddie Ray Routh stands during his capital mur. The jury could also find him not guilty by reason of insanity. Routh, 27, faces an automatic life sentence without parole if convicted, since prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty. Prosecutors, who argue that any history of mental illnesses should not absolve Routh of being accountable for the deaths, indicated they would call two rebuttal witnesses Friday, The Dallas Morning News () reported, an indication that the jury could soon have the case. “He said it would have been the logical thing to do,” Dunn said.ĭunn said there is no doubt Routh is mentally ill. He told Dunn he knew taking Kyle's truck was dumb, and that he should have called police at the shooting range. Routh then told Dunn the Bible says not to kill, that it was a bad thing to do, and he figured he’d be arrested for it. He said Routh told him he stood by the bodies for a moment after the murders and felt a sense of relief. “In his mind, he thought he was going to die unless he took care of business.” In (Routh’s) mind, he thought that,” Dunn told jurors. “If you are going to be killed, you have the right to defend yourself. Psychiatrist Mitchell Dunn interviewed Routh for more than six hours in April 2014. Jurors heard from a forensic psychiatrist who said Routh has schizophrenia and showed signs of psychosis in the weeks leading up to the slayings. STEPHENVILLE, Texas (AP) - Attorneys mounting an insanity defense rested their case Thursday in the trial of the ex-Marine charged with gunning down "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle and his friend, Chad Littlefield.Įddie Ray Routh did not testify during his trial for capital murder in the deaths of Midlothian residents Kyle and Littlefield at a shooting range two years ago. ![]()
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