American Sniper trial: Gunman Routh found guilty of murdering Chris Kyle

Chris Kyle, the US marine played on screen by Bradley Cooper in Clint Eastwood's American Sniper, was murdered by Eddie Ray Routh.

17:24 25 February 2015

Eddie Ray Routh has been found guilty of the 2013 murder of Chris Kyle, known as the American Sniper, and his friend by a jury of ten women and two men ub Stephenville, Texas.

Routh, a mentally disturbed former US Marine, has been sentenced to life in prison for his acts.

The defence claimed momentary insanity on that fateful February afternoon two years ago when he gunned down the victims on a shooting range on near Stephenville.

"That is not insanity. That is just cold, calculated capital murder," prosecutor Jane Starnes said in her closing argument at the trial.

The trial became something of a media circus following the popularity of Kyle's autobiography and subsequent Oscar winning film American Sniper.

Kyle has been dubbed the most lethal sniper in American military history. He was portrayed on screen to Oscar nominated effect by Bradley Cooper in Clint Eastwood's film version of his life.