but eddie ray routh found guilty of the murders of american sniper chris kyle and his best friend chad littlefield. john and christine? ed, thanks for that. now that the trial has ended, the judge has released hours of courtroom video. this morning we can see moments we had only heard about like this one as chris kyle s widow describes the last time she saw her husband. eventually we found each other in the hallway. you know he just said he was inviting or he asked chad to come along. you said chad had come to theous. zroo chad chad was at the house just to have an extra set of eyes. and then he and then i said hey, maybe make sure that this guy knows that chad can be trusted 100% so that he s comfortable saying whatever he wants to say. oh yeah no i definitely will.
it was a swift verdict. it took the jury here in stephenville texas, less than 2 1/2 hours to convict eddie ray routh of the murders of chris kyle and chad littlefield, rejecting his claims and his arguments that he was insane at the time of these murders back in february of 2013. this means that eddie ray routh will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. we just want to say that 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 and we re so thrilled that we have the verdict that we have tonight. reporter: eddie ray routh showed no emotion as the verdict was read. he just stood there and took it all in which is basically the way he s acted throughout most of this trial. there s been very little reaction from him. most of the times in court he has just sat there and taken pages and pages worth of notes.
and then just that we loved each other and gave each other a kiss and a hug like we always did. and you know i left. and when i left he was in the driveway still, trying to get more stuff in there and get going. it must be so difficult for her even as this film is breaking box office records and her husband s killer on trial must be very very difficult for her. 32 minutes past the hour. developing this morning, syrian human rights advocates are raising the alarm. they say isis militants have stormed a syrian village around the town of tal tamer in northeastern syria. kidnapping scores of women, children and the elderly as hundreds more members of this christian group flee for their lives. for the latest on the situation, i want to turn to senior international correspondent ben wedeman. some 700 families fleeing. and the group taking seizing women, children the elderly. what s happening?
we ll have reaction from the courthouse and see testimony from the trial for the very first time. christians targeted by isis. more than 100 kidnapped, being held hostage right now by isis in syria. what does the future hold for these people? what is being done to rescue them? that s ahead. and the southern states can t seem to shake this winter weather. another storm, another storm moving through. states of emergency in place. we re going to show you what areas can expect more snow and ice. the calendar almost says march, folks. welcome back to early start. i m christine romans. i m john berman. about 30 minutes past the hour right now. and breaking overnight, the verdict in the american sniper murder trial. eddie ray routh found guilty of the murder of chris kyle and his friend chad littlefield. the jury clearly not persuaded by routh s claim that he was not guilty by reason of insanity. cnn s ed lavandera at the courthouse for the verdict. ed. reporter: john and christine,
to get justice for us on behalf of our son, and as always god has proved to be faithful and we re so thrilled that we have the verdict that we have tonight. reporter: eddie ray routh showed no emotion as the verdict was read. he just stood there and took it all in, which is basically the ways acted throughout most of this trial. there s been very little reaction from him. most of the time he s just sat there and taken pages and pages worth of notes. but routh found guilty of the murders of american sniper chris kyle and his best friend, chad littlefield. john and christine? our thanks to ed for that. now, with the end of the trial overnight comes the release of hours of brand-new courtroom video. never-before-seen moments. look at this one right here. chris kyle s widow, taya explains how her husband sounded on the phone from the firing range where he and littlefield