A Texas jury has found Eddie Ray Routh guilty of murder in the killings of “American Sniper” Chris Kyle and Kyle’s friend, Chad Littlefield.
The jury announced its verdict at around 10:20 p.m. E.T. at a Stephenville courthouse. They were given the case at 7:36 p.m. E.T.
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Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, and Routh was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Routh, 27, admitted to killing both men at the shooting range of Rough Creek Lodge and Resort, southwest of Dallas, on Feb. 2, 2013.
Routh pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to capital murder. His attorneys have said Routh, a former Marine corporal who served in Iraq but not in a combat role, was in the grip of a medically diagnosed psychosis at the time of the killings.
Prosecutors said that Routh was drinking and smoking marijuana on the morning of the crime. They argue that he was paranoid because he was high, and that he was angry about living with his parents, relationship problems, money and his job — then finally exploded when Kyle and Littlefield snubbed him.
Experts for the prosecution have testified that Routh knew what he was doing was wrong when he killed the two men.
Earlier Thursday, jurors heard a recording in which Routh told a reporter nearly four months after the killings that, “It tore my (expletive) heart out what I did. I don’t know why I did it, but I did it.”
Routh, speaking to a reporter from The New Yorker magazine on May 31, 2013, said, “I feel so (expletive) about it. I guess you live and learn, you know.”
“American Sniper,” the movie based on Kyle’s account of his experiences as a Navy SEAL, was nominated for best picture at the Oscars. Kyle’s widow, Taya, attended the ceremony on Sunday night before flying back to Texas for the rest of the trial.
This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com.
Phil Helsel
Jacob Rascon