For the first time, the public is hearing emotional testimony from the widow of slain “American Sniper” Chris Kyle.
Taya Kyle was the first prosecution witness in the trial of Eddie Ray Routh, who shot and killed Chris Kyle and another man in February 2013 after they took Routh for a therapeutic session at a gun range.
Routh, an ex-Marine who served in Iraq, was convicted of murder on Tuesday night, a verdict that carries an automatic life prison term. On Feb. 11, Taya Kyle told the jury about the last time she saw her husband, just before he left for the gun range.
“We just said we loved each other and gave each other a kiss and a hug like we always did,” she said.
The judge blocked news organizations from airing video of trial testimony before the verdict.
In other testimony, Routh’s uncle, James Watson, described how Routh was not the same after Iraq.
“I noticed that he had kind of lost his desire for life,” he testified. “He didn’t seem to find much joy in life after he came back.”
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