Eddie Ray Routh was found guilty for shooting and killing Chris Kyle and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release. Where is American Sniper Eddie Ray Routh now?
Eddie Ray Routh was charged with capital murder in the shootings of Kyle and Chad Littlefield at Rough Creek Lodge & Resort’s shooting range southwest of Dallas on February 2, 2013.
Routh was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release; authorities had not pursued the death penalty.
Routh’s attorneys claimed that he was insane at the time of the shootings.
Who Is Eddie Ray Routh?
Eddie Ray Routh served in the Marine Corps as an armorer in the late 2000s. He graduated from the same nearby Midlothian high school that Chris Kyle had attended previously.
He served in Iraq in 2007 before being assigned to the USS Bataan for a seven-month Middle East deployment.
Routh then spent four months in Haiti after the earthquake in January 2010 and returned upset by his experiences. He struggled with normality, mental health difficulties, and finding work after returning from duty.
Routh was diagnosed with PTSD two years before to the 2013 murders after being admitted to the Dallas Veterans Administration hospital.
He was prescribed a wide range of potent drugs and was also self-medicating with marijuana and alcohol, all of which contributed to his severe depressive disorder.
American Sniper Shot And Killed Chris Kyle
American Sniper Routh confessed to killing Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield on February 2, 2013, at a shooting range in Texas.
Routh’s defense lawyer, on the other hand, argued that he was suffering from a medically diagnosed psychosis at the time of the murders.
During his arraignment, the former Marine pled not guilty due to insanity.
Routh had been drinking and smoking marijuana the night before Kyle and Littlefield took him to the shooting range for what should have been bonding time with another vet.
Routh, however, was not found not guilty by the jury. He was judged to be responsible for his acts and to have known what he was doing was improper at the time of the killings.
Where Is Eddie Ray Routh Now?
Routh is presently imprisoned at the Louis Powledge Unit after being convicted in 2013. Louis Powledge Unit is a medium-security jail in Palestine, Texas.
Eddie was denied a Motion for Rehearing by the Texas 11th Court of Appeals in 2017. Routh’s allegations of insanity and trial errors were also rejected by the appeals court.
One of them, according to Routh’s counsel, was a statement made to a Texas Ranger, which should have been grounds for a mistrial during the 10-day trial.
Routh’s defense attorney dropped him shortly after the rehearing was denied.
Eddie Ray Routh still has other appeals opportunities, but no new filings on his behalf have been announced.
Eddie Ray Routh Wife & Family
Eddie Ray was in a relationship with Jennifer Weed. She is suspected of impersonating a witness during his trials.
She discussed their relationship and revealed that the night before the killings, she agreed to marry him.
After a big argument the next morning, the couple was on the point of breaking up. As a result of the separation, the prosecution claimed that Eddie Ray was upset.
Ray Routh was born in Lancaster, Texas, to parents Jodi and Raymond Routh. His mother worked in a primary school and his father was a Hereford feedlot builder.