Judge Denies Motion For Mistrial In “American Sniper” Case
With the Academy Awards coming up this Sunday night, the clear favorite among mass audiences is the blockbuster hit “American Sniper,” the story of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, which has grossed over $300 million at the box office. But while Chris Kyle died on February 2, 2013, part of his story is still playing out this week.
As the trial of former Marine Corporal Eddie Ray Routh continues, a motion for a mistrial was denied by a Stephensville, Texas, judge this morning. Routh is the former 27-year-old Marine charged with shooting Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield at point blank range. If convicted of the double homicide he faces life in prison. His attorneys entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.
The Dallas Morning News reported that the request for a mistrial was made on the grounds that prosecutors say they mistakenly suggested that glass vials presented earlier belonged to Routh.
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Prosecutor Alan Nash argued that “inartful” questioning most likely brought jurors to the conclusion that the vials stored in evidence boxes containing drug paraphernalia that was seized from Routh’s house belonged to him, while testimony showed that crime lab workers had put the vials in the evidence boxes to preserve drug evidence.
Denying the request, Judge Jason Cashon said that the error could be corrected during testimony before the jury, and instructed the jury to disregard the vials.
Members of Routh’s family have stated that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from serving in Iraq, and in Haiti following the 2010 Earthquake, which killed somewhere between 250,000 and 300,000 people. The defense hinges on the claim that Routh, who taking anti-psychotic medication when he visited the shooting range with Kyle and Littlefield, was insane at the time of the shootings. Routh’s attorneys say that he believed the two men planned to kill him.
In a taped confession, Routh refers to Chris Kyle, stating: “If I did not take down his soul, he was going to take down mine.”
Prosecutors acknowledge that Routh was a troubled drug user, but say that he knew right from wrong. The case for the defense hinges on proving that Routh was so unstable at the time that he did not know the killings at a gun range constituted a crime. Prosecutors are expected to rest their case next Tuesday.
