the guilty verdict in the sniper trial. eddie ray routh has been found guilty in the murder. that murder coming out about an hour and 15 minutes ago. routh pleading not guilty to the killings by reason of insanity. he s been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. having received and accepted the jury s verdict in this matter, confinement for high of in the texas department of criminal justice without the possibility of parole. now shortly after the verdict was delivered, the mother of one of the victims, chad littlefield shared her reaction. take a listen. we ve waited two years for god to get justice for us on behalf of our son. and as always, god has proved to be faithful.
to show a motive in the case. there really didn t seem to be one here. but that doesn t necessarily carry the day. there didn t seem to really be a motive when charles manson committed his horrible murders 40 years ago. and yet he was found guilty. and not guilty by reason of insanity. on the other hand, you have andrea yates killing her kids in the bathtub, and dina cutting off her baby s arms. there s no way to explain that. and the verdict in those cases was not guilty by reason of insanity. you don t really have to have a motive. you can think someone is mean, evil and psychotic. michael snims, thank you so much for all of your help on msnbc giving us the perspective on what s been happening as just happening about an hour ago. we had that verdict of guilty coming from the judge of eddie ray routh of the murder and
of that change that you have seen, charles? well, it was suggested that eddie ray routh was heavily indulging in drugs and alcohol before this. now that he s in jail and hasn t had access to that, he s had some pretty good food and gained some weight. the prosecution shot down the argument by the defense that eddie ray routh had a psychosis. his attorneys put on psychiatrists who testified that he told them that he believed pigs were invading the earth. and the two men were pig hybrids who were out to kill him. he thought it would be a one-way trim to the shooting range. that they were going to kill him. there so towed kill them before they shod them. now on the opposite side, the state said, that doesn t make sense. they may have thought he was a little off.
shooting range. they wouldn t have done that if they thought he was dangerous. they even gave eddie ray routh a pistol to shoot. obviously they didn t think he would turn the gun on them. in his mind he thought they were going to try to kill him. so he shot them in the back six and seven times. a murder here that has shocked the community. and finally now we have justice. charles hadlock there for us live in stephensville right after the verdict came down. not too long ago. the jury only having the case for about 2:45. they came to a decision very quickly. thank you so much for that. during closing arguments as we were listening to that, the defense reviewed the evidence that eddie ray routh suffered from schizophrenia. take a listen. we watched the doctor who works with schizophrenics every single day of the week.
they came to a decision very quickly. thank you so much for that. during closing arguments as we were listening to that, the defense reviewed the evidence that eddie ray routh suffered from schizophrenia. take a listen. we watched the doctor who works with schizophrenics every single day of the week. and he has for 20 years. they watched a smart man, a good psychiatrist. he doesn t deal with schizophrenia. he was only diagnosed one time in 30 years. and the president of the medical association, it sounded like that s about what he does most of the time. he is not dealing with patients like the doctor does every single day. and the doctor told you eddie is suffering from schizophrenia. joining us live, brian weiss, special prosecutor.