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PTSD

'American Sniper' trial likely to increase stigma of PTSD

Rick Jervis
USA TODAY
Residents and business owners in Stephenville, Texas, showed their support for the victims of the "American Sniper" murder trial.

STEPHENVILLE, Texas — The killer of American Sniper author and veteran Chris Kylewas handed swift justice Tuesday when a jury found him guilty of capital murder. But damage to the reputation of veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder used in the defense of convicted shooter Eddie Ray Routh may be longer lasting.

"The jury got it right — that helps to some degree to destigmatize PTSD," said Harry Croft, a San Antonio-based psychiatrist who evaluates veterans with post-traumatic stress. "The bad news is: The headlines before the trial was that PTSD will be used as a defense. Unfortunately, that's the message many people will remember."

The 12-member jury took just over two hours to convict Routh of capital murder for the Feb. 2, 2013, shooting deaths of Kyle and his friend, Chad Littlefield, at an upscale shooting range near Fort Worth.

The proceedings received global attention as the Oscar-nominated American Sniper, the Clint Eastwood-directed film about Kyle's service in Iraq as a celebrated Navy SEAL sniper based on his best-selling book, has grossed more than $400 million in ticket sales worldwide.

It also brought to the global spotlight the issue of veterans dealing with PTSD — a major tenet of Routh's defense. Routh served with the Marines, including an assignment cleaning up bodies in earthquake-scarred Haiti and a tour as a prison guard in Iraq.

Throughout the nine-day trial, family members and friends testified they saw Routh morph from a charismatic, outgoing guy prior to his military service to a guy struggling with psychosis, who was in and out of mental hospitals, had violent outbursts toward his family, and abused drugs and alcohol.


Former Marine Cpl. Eddie Ray Routh stands during his capital murder trial at the Erath County, Donald R. Jones Justice Center in Stephenville Texas, on Tuesday.

"He wasn't his happy-go-lucky self like he'd always been," his mother, Jodi Routh, said during the trial.

Desperate, Jodi Routh reached out to Kyle to help her son. Kyle, who volunteered with veterans struggling with PTSD, agreed to meet with Routh and took him to the shooting range, along with Littlefield, as a bonding exercise.

But prosecutors showed Routh claimed to have PTSD during prior run-ins with the law and fled from police after the shootings, indicating he knew what he did was wrong — arguments that rang true with jurors.

"He knew the consequences of pulling the trigger," juror Barrett Hutchinson told ABC News after the trial.

Veterans in Texas followed the trial closely, nearly all of them siding with Kyle and Littlefield, said Dick Goetz, chairman of the Texas Wounded Warrior Foundation, which helps injured veterans readjust to society. Many of them suffer from PTSD and were dismayed that the affliction was used in Routh's defense, he said.

"I don't think there's any questions that the defendant had PTSD," Goetz said. "But the veterans I spoke to say that's not a good defense for killing those two guys. There's something much deeper there."

Andrew O'Brien, a former Army convoy gunner diagnosed with PTSD who speaks at military bases and other organizations about the pitfalls of the disorder, said he watched in alarm as the trial seemingly unraveled much of his efforts breaking down stereotypes associated with the affliction.

Like Croft, O'Brien said having the jury convict Routh despite his PTSD claims was a positive step. "My biggest fear was that he would have gotten away with it," he said. "If he's found not guilty because of insanity, that means people think we're insane because we have PTSD. That would have hurt more than anything."

But it was still painful to watch PTSD used to explain Routh's actions, O'Brien said. "It causes nightmare and some paranoia and anxiety," he said. "It does not make people want to murder other people."

About one in five veterans returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan endure some form of PTSD, Croft said. PTSD also affects around 7% of the general population, from victims of rapes and muggings to car crashes and hurricane survivors, but they don't face nearly the same amount of workplace discrimination as veterans — a trend that will likely continue after this trial, he said.

"I applaud the jury and the judicial system for getting it right," Croft said. "But the fact is the barn door was already open and a lot of damage already done."

Eddie Ray Routh as a Marine and after his arrest in the shooting deaths of Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield.
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