Lawyer: 'American Sniper' Said Ex-Marine Was 'Straight-Up Nuts'

By Jamie Stengle

STEPHENVILLE, Texas (AP) — Shortly before he was shot to death by a troubled former Marine at a Texas gun range, legendary Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle texted a buddy, “This dude is straight-up nuts,” a defense attorney told jurors Wednesday.

A lawyer for Eddie Ray Routh said in opening statements of the man’s murder trial that Routh’s insanity was so evident that Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield exchanged texts expressing alarm as the three rode together in February 2013 to a Texas shooting range.

Taya Kyle, left, wife of slain Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, hugs family members as they arrive at the Erath County Donald R. Jones Justice Center, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015, in Stephenville, Texas, for the opening day of the capital murder trial of former Marine Cpl. Eddie Ray Routh. Routh, 27, of Lancaster, Texas, is charged with the 2013 deaths of Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield at a shooting range near Glen Rose, Texas.(AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Tom Fox, Pool)

Taya Kyle, left, wife of slain Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, hugs family members Wednesday

"He’s (sitting) right behind me, watch my six," Littlefield texted back, using a military reference for watching one’s back.

But a prosecutor said that even with a history of mental illness, Routh still knew right from wrong.

The case has drawn intense interest, largely because of Kyle’s memoir about being a sniper who served four tours in Iraq. The Oscar-nominated film based on the book has grossed nearly $300 million.

Former Marine Cpl. Eddie Ray Routh, center, appears in court on the opening day of his capital murder trial at the Erath County Donald R. Jones Justice Center, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015, in Stephenville, Texas. Routh, 27, of Lancaster, Texas, is charged with the 2013 deaths of former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield at a shooting range near Glen Rose, Texas. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Tom Fox, Pool)

Former Marine Cpl. Eddie Ray Routh, center, appears in court Wednesday

Erath County District Attorney Alan Nash described the 27-year-old Routh as “a troubled young man” who on the morning of the killings numbed himself with marijuana and whiskey. He said a history of mental illness should not absolve Routh of being accountable for the deaths.

FILE - In this April 6, 2012 file photo, Chris Kyle, a former Navy SEAL and author of the book “American Sniper,” poses in Midlothian, Texas. Jury selection begins Monday, Feb. 9, 2015, for the upcoming trial of former Marine Eddie Ray Routh, who is charged with capital murder in the shooting deaths of Kyle and Kyle's friend, Chad Littlefield. (AP Photo/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Paul Moseley, File)

Chris Kyle

"The evidence will show that mental illnesses, even the ones that this defendant may or may not have, don’t deprive people from being good citizens, to know right from wrong," Nash said.

Tim Moore, an attorney for Routh, said Kyle and Littlefield’s text exchange shows how Routh was spiraling out of control. He told jurors that Routh was suffering from severe mental strain that day and thought he needed to kill the two or they would turn on him.

Taya Kyle, wife of slain Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, arrives at the Erath County Donald R. Jones Justice Center Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015, in Stephenville, Texas, for the opening day of the capital murder trial of former Marine Cpl. Eddie Ray Routh. Routh, 27, of Lancaster, Texas, is charged with the 2013 deaths of Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield at a shooting range near Glen Rose, Texas.(AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Tom Fox, Pool)

Taya Kyle, wife of slain Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, arrives at the Erath County Donald R. Jones Justice Center Wednesday

"He thought he had to take their lives or he was in danger," Moore said.

Kyle’s widow, Taya Kyle, testified that Littlefield and her husband were close, and enjoyed spending time with veterans as a way to help them ease back into civilian life. She detailed her husband’s own struggles after leaving the battlefield, saying he had post-traumatic stress disorder, was irritable and slowed by physical ailments.

She said her husband had been approached by Routh’s mother to help her son.

The intense attention on the case has brought renewed focus to the mental struggles former military members face.

Routh was a small arms technician who served in Iraq and was deployed to earthquake-ravaged Haiti before leaving the Marines in 2010. Authorities say that after the February 2013 shooting, Routh drove to his sister’s house in Kyle’s truck, admitted to the killings and told his sister “people were sucking his soul.”

Routh faces life in prison without parole if convicted.

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Photo: AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Tom Fox, Pool