The prosecution has rested its case. Now, it’s the defense’s last turn to explain Eddie Ray Routh’s case.
No one disputes that Routh shot and killed Chris Kyle, subject of the hit film “American Sniper,” and Kyle’s friend, Chad Littlefield, at a Texas firing range two years ago. But defense attorneys say Routh was insane.
Prosecutors have described Routh as a troubled young man, but they argue he wasn’t insane; they say these are the actions of a cold-blooded killer.
On Tuesday, prosecutors showed a video of police placing Routh into a squad car moments after authorities chased him down a Texas highway. Earlier that day in February 2013, authorities say, Routh gunned down two men who were trying to help him at a firing range: Chris Kyle, subject of the hit film “American Sniper,” and Kyle’s friend, Chad Littlefield.
In the video, Routh is breathing heavily and teary-eyed.
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Kyle and Littlefield took Routh to the firing range as a kind of therapy.
The range is a small, remote part of the sprawling 11,000-acre Rough Creek Lodge, and the men were isolated.
A hunting guide found Kyle, 38, and Littlefield, 35, who also was a veteran, motionless and called 911. The men were dead when officers arrived.
CNN’s Catherine E. Shoichet and Dana Ford contributed to this report.
