Eddie Ray Routh has been found guilty of murder in the death of Chris Kyle, the hero who inspired the movie American Sniper, and his friend Chad Littlefield.
After intense closing arguments that at one point caused Chris Kyle's widow, Taya Kyle, to storm out of the courtroom, a Texas jury reached a verdict.
Routh was found guilty of capital murder on Tuesday night at 9:15 CST. He was given a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Routh killed Chris Kyle (center) and Chad Littlefield (right) at a gun range on February 2, 2013. In court, Littlefield's stepbrother, Jerry Richardson, addressed Routh.
"Because of you and your irresponsible choices, we lost a great son, brother, father and uncle on February 2, 2013," he said. "And that will never change."
"Those are traits you'll never experience, because you took the lives of two heroes - men who tried to be a friend to you. And you became an American disgrace."
The verdict came after two weeks of emotional, sometimes bizarre testimony about Routh's life, his mental hospital stays and his volatile behavior.
During closing arguments, as the defense team argued its case, at one point Taya Kyle sat with her feet up on the chair and her head in her hands.
Clearly rattled, she then suddenly stood and walked out of the courtroom, slapping the door with her hand as she left. But she returned to her desired result.
In the end, it came down to one question, as defense attorney Tim Moore said: "What was going on in Eddie's mind when he shot those two guys?"
His lawyers described the former Marine as a "troubled veteran" who has schizophrenia, which worsened over time. The defense did not sway a jury.
Assistant Attorney General Jane Starnes argued that what was going through his mind was in fact "deliberate, it was calculating and it was cold."
Noting that both men were shot in the back at least six times each, she described how Littlefield shielded his face before getting shot two more times.
"This was not to prevent him from getting up, but to finish him off," she said. "He didn't want Chad dead. He wanted Chad dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead."
"And he wanted the same for Chris."
After Routh was discharged from the military in 2010, he ended up in psychiatric hospitals several times, once for threatening to kill himself and his family.
Shortly thereafter, the retired Chris Kyle's memoir, American Sniper, had become a New York Times bestseller after being published in January 2012.
In it, Kyle recounted in detail how his four tours of duty as a Navy SEAL earned him a reputation as the deadliest sniper in the history of the U.S. military.
In late 2014, his life story was turned into a critically acclaimed movie of the same name that starred Bradley Cooper and directed by Clint Eastwood.
"They made it their mission in life to be friends with other men," Starnes said of Kyle and Littlefield. "And that's what ultimately cost them their lives."
"It caused them to override any kind of sense of self-preservation."