‘American Sniper’ killer gets life term

Eddie Ray Routh has begun a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole after a Texas jury found him guilty of murdering Chris Kyle, the former US Navy SEAL whose autobiography was turned into the hit movie American Sniper.

Routh, 27, a former US Marine, was found guilty of fatally shooting Kyle and Kyle’s friend, Chad Littlefield, multiple times at a gun range about 110km south-west of Fort Worth in February 2013.

Prosecutors said he ambushed the two from the rear, waiting for Kyle to completely unload his weapon at the range before he attacked with a barrage of gunshots.

Kyle, a SEAL credited with the most confirmed kills of any US military sniper, has been lionised in his home state of Texas.

He became entrenched in US popular culture in large part due to his best-selling book and the Academy Award nominated movie directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Bradley Cooper.

The jury deliberated for a little more than two hours before reaching a verdict. Prosecutors chose not to go for the death penalty and had been seeking a life sentence without parole.

Defence lawyers argued that Routh was a paranoid schizophrenic and should be declared innocent by reason of insanity.