Taya Kyle has finally found peace. The widow of American Sniper Chris Kyle praised the jury which found her husband’s killer, Eddie Ray Routh, guilty of murder after a lengthy trial on Tuesday, Feb. 24. After sitting through an emotional day at court — where at one point she abruptly got up and left, slamming the door behind her — Taya posted to Chris’ Facebook thanking the jury for their conviction.
“Good Morning! What a poetic morning when the snow is melting and the winter is thawing out promising a new day. I have a short story to tell you but first…God Bless the jury and good people of Stephenville, Texas!!” she wrote before going into a lengthy story about one of Chris’ friends Pete Scobell.
Routh was found guilty of capital murder on Tuesday and received a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. The former Marine, who was described by his lawyers as a “troubled veteran” suffering from schizophrenia, shot Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield multiple times at a Texas gun range in February 2013.
The verdict came after defense attorney Tim Moore poised the question of what was going on in Routh’s mind when he shot the two men, which assistant attorney general Jane Starnes argued was “deliberate,” “calculating,” and “cold.”
“He didn’t want Chad dead. He wanted Chad dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. And he wanted the same for Chris,” she added.
Chris Kyle’s memoir, American Sniper, is the basis for the award-winning blockbuster starring Bradley Cooper of the same title.