Prosecutor: Ex-Marine, intoxicated, killed ‘American Sniper’

Author: Associated Press
Published:
MGN

STEPHENVILLE, Texas (AP) – A prosecutor is telling jurors that the former Marine on trial for killing the celebrated Navy SEAL depicted in the movie “American Sniper” was numbed by marijuana and whiskey at the time of the fatal shooting.

Erath County District Attorney Alan Nash said in opening statements Wednesday that overwhelming evidence points to Eddie Ray Routh as the killer of former sniper Chris Kyle and another man in February 2013.

Routh is charged with capital murder.

Defense attorney Tim Moore didn’t dispute that Routh accompanied the men to a shooting range but said he was spiraling out of control from mental illness and thought he needed to kill them or they would turn on him.

Kyle’s military exploits were depicted in his memoir and the blockbuster based on it.

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