Jury selection in killing of ‘American Sniper’ complicated by book and the movie
Publicity surrounding Oscar-nominated movie and book complicates the task, legal experts say
Jury selection was due to begin yesterday in the trial of the man accused of killing Navy Seal and American Sniper author Chris Kyle, a task legal experts said is complicated by Kyle's fame.
Kyle, 38, became one of the country's most lethal snipers during four tours of duty in Iraq, writing a book about his experiences afterward that was turned into an Oscar-nominated movie starring Bradley Cooper that's still in theatres.
The sniper was gunned down two years ago during target practice at an outdoor range in Texas, near Stephenville, with friend Chad Littlefield, 35.
The two had taken a troubled veteran along with them who now stands accused of their double murder: Eddie Ray Routh.
Routh, 27, is being held at Erath County Jail on two counts of murder and one count of capital murder in lieu of US$3 million bail. The prosecutor has said he will not seek the death penalty.
Routh's Fort Worth-based attorney, J. Warren St. John, has questioned whether he can get a fair trial in Stephenville given the publicity surrounding Kyle and has filed requests for a change of venue that the judge has so far rejected. Deborah Denno, a law professor at Fordham University, said the decision not to change venue was "problematic".