Return to Transcripts main page

CNN TONIGHT

Guilty Verdict In "American Sniper" Trial

Aired February 24, 2015 - 23:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It is 11:00 p.m. on the east coast and 10:00 p.m. in Texas, our breaking news tonight, a verdict in the "American Sniper" trial. Eddie Ray Routh found guilty of the murders of Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield.

Routh has been sentenced to life prison without the possibility of parole. Never before seen video from the trial is being released tonight, much of it is very emotional. We are going to have all of that for you.

We will get now to our panel and also to CNN's Ed Lavandera, who is live outside of the courthouse in Stephenville, Texas. Ed, we heard more audio today from the recorded conversations Eddie Ray Routh had with the "New Yorker." What did jury hear that led to them to this verdict?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, throughout all of this testimony if anyone was hoping to have heard a clear motive for why Eddie Ray Routh shot and killed Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield, they really didn't get one.

There was a series of explanations for why Eddie Ray Routh turned the gun on the two men, who were trying to help them. He had one point talked about how he was mad that Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield were not talking to him while they were driving out to the gun range.

He was mad that Chris Kyle decided to drive him through a fast food restaurant on the way to the gun range. He felt that he was being force fed. Then he got mad apparently at Chad Littlefield, because Chad Littlefield at one point apparently decided to stop taking part in the shooting.

And Eddie Ray Routh was mad at him, and told him in that "New Yorker" interview audio that was played in court that Eddie Ray Routh was mad that he was not participating in the shooting at the range. So a series of bizarre reasons for what might have made Eddie Ray Routh snap on that day, February 2nd, 2013.

But we want to play for you the verdict that was announced here a short while ago after 2-1/2 hours of deliberating, the jury here in Stephenville, Texas, returned with their verdict, and this is the way it unfolded here tonight in Stephenville.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JUDGE JASON CASHON, ERATH COUNTY DISTRICT: We, the jury, find the defendant, Eddie Ray Routh, guilty of the felony offense of capital murder as charged in the indictment. The verdict is signed by Miss Stafford, as foreperson of the jury. You may be seated at this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Don, this was a swift verdict. They started deliberating at 6:30 Central Time, 7:30 Eastern. We were told that after a long day of testimony that they even took a break to eat some dinner before they sat down to deliberation, so in all dinner and deliberations took less than 2-1/2 hours -- Don.

LEMON: All right, Ed Lavandera, standby. I want to get now to our panel, our legal experts here, Kimberly Priest Johnson, defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, Mark O'Mara, CNN legal an analyst and criminal defense attorney, and also joined by Richard Gabriel, a trial consultant and author of "Acquittal," and also Attorney Ben Brafman.

Let me read this to you, Kimberly, so his attorney says, "In my opinion, he is suffering from a severe mental illness or a defect, and then he went onto say that he had been complaining in the police car about his mental state.

And this is apparently what he said in the police car and that is on videotape. He said, "I had been so paranoid and schizophrenic all day, I don't know what to think. I don't know what's even sane in the world right now." And he made that the jury was privy to all of this information, correct?

KIMBERLY PRIEST JOHNSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Correct, right. I think that those statements hurt Eddie Ray Routh. A person that is so mentally ill that he is legally insane doesn't state, they don't know that they are mentally insane, and they don't know that they are experiencing schizophrenia and paranoia.

They don't use those terms. That is not typical behavior of a person, who is experiencing true mental illness to the point of legal insanity, and those comments in my opinion hurt Eddie Ray Routh.

LEMON: An officer in the county jail where Routh is being held, Mark O'Mara said, I heard Mr. Routh say, I shot them because they wouldn't talk to me. I was just riding in the back seat of the truck, and nobody would talk to me.

They were just taking me to the range so I shot them. I feel bad about it, but they would not talk to me. I am sure they have forgiven me now. What do you make of those statements? How does that play in the jury?

MARK O'MARA, CNN LEGALY ANALYST: Well, here is the thing, if you think of insanity, if it was tangible, it would be some alternate reality, some alternate universe, where you don't know what is going on in this universe, because you are in the insane universe. When you can think back and thik I was thinking this, I was feeling paranoid or I didn't know what I was doing, what in effect you are doing is you are connecting with the stage in your life where you are trying to say you are insane.

And I think that hurts his position because a true insane person will say I have no idea what happened. I don't know where I was. I don't remember shooting. I don't remember why. I don't remember leaving. That is true insanity under the law.

You don't -- not only do you not know what is wrong, you don't really know what you are doing, which in effect means you don't know what is wrong. So those things all along the board and what he was doing before and after.

And the interviews and the comments like that, give insight that he knew what he was doing to begin with and also that what he was doing was wrong.

LEMON: And so, Richard Gabriel, from the "New Yorker" interview in 2013, a phone interview, he described being annoyed with Kyle and Littlefield as they made the 90-minute drive from the home to the countryside gun range.

He didn't trust the Navy SEAL and his friend after their first meeting. He told the reporter, he said, "That is how I felt that day," Routh said, "It is a smell in the air that morning. It smelled like," and he said the word, "feces," and then he continues to say, "It smelled like sweet cologne, I guess it was love and hate, you know, I was smelling love and hate."

They were giving me some love and they were giving me some hate," and then he went on the talk about how they've made him go get fastfood. He felt like they were force feeding him.

He felt as if they were not really his friends. They were doing this possibly just automatically because they felt that they had to in some way, and that annoyed him.

RICHARD GABRIEL, TRIAL CONSULTANT: And what is interesting is that in that very long statement, you are actually going to have two states of mind, and you have this, I think the jurors could easily say his intent, his motive.

They annoyed me. I was angry with them for these various things that happened during the trip so that can create motive right by there, and then you have a lot of these other statements, which could kind of come out of the ether, and again represent really what goes on with somebody with a mental illness.

And the issue is that legal profession to a certain extent has created somewhat of an artificial standard when it comes to mental illness. We have this insanity, which is a direct. You can't know what you are doing.

You don't know the right from wrong and again no clinical psychologist or psychologist actually treats schizophrenia the way the legal system does.

LEMON: I want to ask you this, Ben, because I have to get back to Ed, but we were saying there is no motive, but is the motive that he was disrespected can that be a motive here?

BENJAMIN BRAFMAN, ATTORNEY, BRAFMAN AND ASSOCIATES: It does not have to be a motive. I think we've set aside insanity because it's been rejected. We can't find motive, it is a reason. It is not that bizarre because our prisons throughout the country are filled with people who have murdered because they felt that they were disrespected.

And it happens instantaneously. They don't think it through. They don't plan it like a motive. There is no motive that benefits them, but at that moment, they feel that they were disrespected, and if you dissect his testimony, reject insanity.

They wouldn't talk to him and he felt like he was being force fed. They drove him through a fastfood restaurant. They ignored him at the range and one of them wasn't even shooting, and I think at some point, he snapped because he was disrespected. Not crazy, not motive, reason.

LEMON: OK, he didn't feel a connection with them as they were just sort of going --

BRAFMAN: He's insulted.

LEMON: I want to get back to CNN's Ed Lavandera now. Ed, as I understand, you have something that we have not seen before or at least heard?

LAVANDERA: Right. We have seen it. We have been able to show this, but you have not been able to hear it and I think when you hear it, this makes all of the difference in the world. Let me set the scene here.

You are about to see and hear part of the nearly 90-minute confession that Eddie Ray Routh gave to a Texas ranger detective just after he was taken into custody, and just hours after he had killed Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield. You can listen to it now for the first time -- Don.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know what you did was wrong, do you understand that?

EDDIE RAY ROUTH: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think should happen? -- (inaudible) forever -- that is why you did -- because of the -- you killed them because you thought it was wrong? And you knew that taking that truck was wrong?

ROUTH: Yes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And where did you go after that?

ROUTH: Are you asking me if I was sane?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. And I understand that it has been difficult for you, and I want to talk about what happened. You can start when you woke up today and what happened?

ROUTH: Well, I kept talking to Chris, and then every time I talked to another man named Chris, and then I kept thinking that I was talking to the wolf, to the ones -- the ones in the sky are the ones that are the pigs.

I had been smelling it the whole time. I can smell the whole time. I can tell the difference of two kinds of pigs. I don't know how you can smell your (inaudible), and I'm not trying to say (inaudible), but you know what I mean?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: Don, it is really hard to make out what he said there, but in portions of the audio, you can hear him making the references to the pigs that have been talked about, but the overall demeanor, and you can take a lot away from it, and that is what is indicative of most of the tape that we saw.

There was never any kind of the bizarre outbursts or anything like that. The way he spoke, and the way you heard him there, that is the way he talks throughout most of the confession tape.

LEMON: Yes, and as we move along there, we will get some captions on that tape so you can understand it clearly what he says. I think it's very important.

My entire panel is going to be staying with me except for Attorney Ben Brafman who has to go. Ben, thank you so much for joining us.

In the meantime, we've got a lot more to come on our breaking news tonight, Eddie Ray Routh found guilty of the murders of Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield.

We will also have never before seen video from the trial just being released tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just want to say that we have 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 are so thrilled that, that we have the verdict that we have tonight. Thank you, guys, for be being so compassionate, and treating us with respect and honoring us. Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: What you're hearing right there is a mother's anguish. That is Judy Littlefield, Chad Littlefield's mother speaking out after the verdict had been rendered for the sentencing that Eddie Ray Routh would spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

We are back now with our breaking news, and that breaking news is Eddie Ray Routh found guilty of the murders of Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield in the "American Sniper" trial.

Joining me now is Brandon Webb. He is a former Navy SEAL who trained Chris Kyle. Are you surprised with the verdict?

BRANDON WEBB, FORMER NAVY SEAL WHO TRAINED CHRIS KYLE: No. I am not surprised at the verdict, but I'm also very relieved that the Littlefields and the Kyle families can find some peace and closure to this.

Because I think, you know, this is something that has been drug out for a couple of years now, and it is a relief to me knowing that the families can get some closure, and that the people of Texas have made what I think is a good decision.

LEMON: Asking you about this, is this the appropriate sentence or the decision?

WEBB: Yes, I think that the people of Texas are very practical, and they made a decision from what I know the defense was trying to prove the insanity piece, but did Eddie know the difference of right and wrong, and I think that he did. And for the people of Texas to make the decision and to send him to life with parole is the right decision.

LEMON: No one really wins here because you have two American heroes who were dead and a veteran now who will be put away for life.

WEBB: Yes. There is no good outcome to any of this other than the fact that the Kyles and the Littlefield families can find a little bit of peace. And to me, that is a win. This is time to put it to bed for both of the families.

LEMON: Let's talk about you, because I wonder, you knew Chris Kyle, you trained him, does this bring it all back for you, even you think that the decision, and the verdicts and the sentencing appropriate, does it bring it back to you?

WEBB: You know, it is appropriate, I'm satisfied with the decision that was made, but more important to me is the fact that, you know, I threw it down the other night the governor of Texas has the worst VA hospital in America under his watch, and to really honor my friend and teammate Chris Kyle, I challenged the governor to really fix that VA system in Texas.

It is the worst system in the country and to me honoring Chris Kyle, my friend and teammate, is to turn around that the VA system in Texas and get it up to par. LEMON: But what you are saying is that maybe Eddie Ray Routh should have gotten better treatment as a veteran coming back?

WEBB: Yes, absolutely. I mean, here's the situation where you have a very disturbed individual slipped through the cracks at the Dallas VA which in 2004, the inspector general ranked the Dallas V.A. as the worst V.A. facility in America, and to me that is sad and it just shows that the proof is in the pudding.

You have an individual like Eddie Ray Routh that clearly exhibited signs of mental health disorder and was able to kind of walk free and be set loose and put my friend Chris at risk.

LEMON: Everyone says veterans should be treated better. They should get better mental health care when they come back.

WEBB: Yes.

LEMON: How do you start that? How do you make it better?

WEBB: I think it is clearly a situation that you have to look at -- you have to differentiate between the post-traumatic stress and true mental disorders.

LEMON: Which was part of this trial.

WEBB: And I think that the V.A. just kind of threw a blanket post- traumatic stress diagnosis on Eddie Ray Routh and this is a person that had clear symptoms of schizophrenia, and had a true mental disorder, and you can't throw pills and medication at that situation.

You have to like really help these veterans to move on. You cannot throw medication and pills at this situation. You want to get these guys healthy.

LEMON: Do you think that he was suffering from PTSD or do you think it was a mental health issues or do you think it was a combination because PTSD obviously is a mental health issue?

WEBB: Yes, I mean, it is a mental health issue, you know, post- traumatic stress is essentially a symptom of being exposed to serious combat stress, and Eddie Routh was never exposed to combat. He was in a combat zone, but never exposed to serious combat. He was an armor and a support guy in a very safe situation.

LEMON: I have a short time left, but do you think that this will stigmatize people who are coming back from war? Do you think it will help bring light to the issue?

WEBB: My hope is that it will bring light to the issue and that's a hope that I have and something that Chris Kyle felt very strongly about. It's helping veterans and to me -- that, you know, you can call a day in Texas the Chris Kyle Day as the governor did or you can fix the VA system in Texas.

And to me, you want to honor my friend and teammate you fix that VA system in Texas. As much as he would appreciate, you know, having a day named in his honor. If you really want to honor Chris Kyle, you fix that Texas VA system and that is the way to honor my friend.

LEMON: Are you doing OK?

WEBB: Yes. Thanks.

LEMON: Thank you. Appreciate your service.

Our breaking news tonight, Eddie Ray Routh found guilty of the murders of Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield. He has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. When we come right back, more video from the trial just released tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Our breaking news tonight here on CNN, Eddie Ray Routh found guilty of capital murder in the shooting deaths of Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield and he has been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

Let me get straight to CNN's Ed Lavandera. He is live for us outside of the courthouse in Stephenville, Texas. Ed, as I understand you have more audio today from recorded conversation Eddie had with the "New Yorker." What -- the jury, did they hear that as well?

LAVANDERA: Yes, so a lot of these recordings, it is really the first time we are able to play you the audio portion of these videos and these recordings, which I think will really help viewers so we are trying to bring as many of those pieces for you here in this hour.

Now that this trial is over, we are allowed to broadcast the audio in which you're about to hear is Eddie Ray Routh talking about one of the reasons why he shot and killed Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did you shoot them today? There were some shots fired, but how close were you?

ROUTH: I was up close to them. I knew that if I did not take his soul, he was coming to take mine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And you hear Eddie Ray Routh there talking about how he had to take their souls before they took his, and you heard the defense attorneys made reference to that throughout the testimony in this trial that in that moment whatever happened.

They argued that Eddie Ray Routh felt that Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield were out to get him, and that is why they turned the guns on the very people who were trying to help him.

You know, the problem, Don, is that there have been a variety of reasons that really didn't make a whole lot of sense as to what exactly triggered this and made him carry that out.

I also want to read to you, Don, one of the quotes, there is Don Littlefield, Chad Littlefield's father spoke to Eddie Ray Routh directly before leaving.

You did not hear from him live when we brought the comments that his wife had made, but I thought what he said really powerful because at one point throughout these confession tapes, Eddie Ray Routh he said he wasn't quite sure who Chad Littlefield was.

And Don Littlefield said, you know, you confessed that you did not know Chad's name when you brutally murdered him, now you will have the rest of your wasted life each and every day of it to remember his name. Let me remind you of his name, it's Chad Littlefield and then he spelled it out for Eddie Ray Routh.

LEMON: Ed Lavandera, thank you. Standby. Ed is going to have more information coming from the courtroom, newly released video mostly audio that we weren't able to hear.

I want to bring my panel in to talk about that, Kimberly Priest Johnson, Mark O'Mara and trial consultant, Richard Gabriel, and Brandon Webb, a former Navy SEAL joined us just a moment ago.

But I want to go now -- Mark, explain to our viewers first before we get into exactly what happened, why we're able to hear this now when we weren't before.

O'MARA: Well, the judge had made a decision to control their courtroom that they were not going to allow any of the audio out for a number of reasons. He just didn't want to sensationalize the trial more than it is already.

He also wants to make sure that the evidence doesn't get out because it may get back to the jurors somehow in different ways and it may get back to other witnesses before they testify.

So he made a decision to sort of control all these, but of course now that the trial is over, it is no longer an issue, and so he lets it all out as it should be out because I think we all need to take a look at this and be able to listen to it and see exactly what happened in that trial.

LEMON: And as we heard from Brandon Webb as I heard from him, he had some issues, and that he was dealing with PTSD, which is a mental issue, and also Kimberly, the jury learned today that Routh took a gun from the scene. Why is that significant? Does it show state of mind that he was possibly obsessed with these men and their possessions?

JOHNSON: The prosecution argued in their closing statement that Routh took the American sniper gun as a trophy. We don't really know why, only Eddie Ray Routh knows why he took that gun, but it is one of the many facts that the prosecution was able to go over and emphasize in their closing argument about intent, logic against insanity for this defendant. LEMON: Richard, do you think his -- I mean, his appearance changed in two years, a lot. He was very thin and very gaunt and appeared jittery as someone on drugs, and I am just assuming that, but looking at the appearance.

And you look at him now in 2015, he looked like a middle-aged salesman, do you think that his appearance made a difference with the jury? Did it hurt the defense?

GABRIEL: I think it actually worked against him in this particular case. In other words, you know, the jurors are always looking at the defendant, and they are looking at his appearance in trial as a representation of the state of mind.

And if you looked at the before and after pictures, before he actually looks like somebody who is a little bit more unhinge and now with the suit and the glasses, he looks a little bit more upright, and jurors are looking for consistency.

And if it does not match there, it can go to their thing that maybe he is manufacturing this defense, so I think it worked against him in this case.

LEMON: And Mark, you know, I think that you brought this up when we said that there are no winners here, obviously, the families of Chad Littlefield and Chris Kyle are really suffering the most right now and have been over the years.

And the family of Eddie Ray Routh obviously suffering as well, but he is the man who committed this crime, and killed these two men, and three people lose here. And you know, I don't know if the jury could have had another possibility, but it also speaks to the system when it comes to dealing with veterans.

O'MARA: Well, you know, and it is very difficult. We have in our state, and it is coming around to other states as well, we have mental health courts literally where people diagnosed mental health illnesses are treated differently.

But also very uniquely, and it's coming around -- we have veterans courts now in Florida, and so what we have said is that when the veterans enter our system, we will treat them a certain way, and we will be sensitized to what they bring to the table.

Whether it is PTSD or other mental illness or just the trauma of having serve and if nothing more just some honor given to our veterans, and we are going to try and treat them with a level of respect.

And I think this case, and if there is a silver lining here, we can look at it and say, though he committed a crime, he needs to pay, maybe there is a way to look at this case differently, and I forgot the man's name, the Navy SEAL said --

LEMON: Brandon Webb. O'MARA: I'm sorry, Brandon. I apologize for that, Mr. Webb. We can look at the veteran system and fix it. My dad was a POW in World War II, both my brother served, thank God they made through without anything left over too badly.

But we know there are thousands and thousands of veterans coming back, and they are walking into a system that starting with Vietnam ignored them and even today with Iraq and Afghanistan are not treating them the way we should.

They are heroes. They need help when they get back and it is going to take hundreds of billions of dollars to do it, but if we can avoid these circumstances and treat our veterans the way they deserve to be treated, maybe that's something we'll learn from today.

LEMON: We have a lot more to come tonight as more never before seen video being released from the "American Sniper" trial. Breaking news, Eddie Ray Routh found guilty of the murders of Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Our breaking news tonight, Eddie Ray Routh found guilty of capital murder in the shooting deaths of Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield. Routh has been sentenced to life without the possibility of patrol.

I want to get back now to the courthouse at Stephenville, Texas, Ed Lavandera standing by. Ed, we are getting these never-before released audio that goes along with the video. Some of the video we have seen, but we haven't heard the audio. Take us through what we're going to hear now.

LAVANDERA: All right, we got a couple of pieces for you here. On the first one, you're hear -- I think it's one of the more fascinating ones, this is a jailhouse phone conversation that Eddie Ray Routh had with a writer from the "New Yorker" magazine, who had been writing a profile of Eddie Ray Routh. Eddie Ray Routh calls him, the jail records it, and you can listen to it here now for the first time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And so, as you are going after he called, you are going after the rest of the way or what?

ROUTH: Well, we talked at Whataburger, and got a bite to eat, and then I thought that it was strange. I was not hungry. It was like sort of like forced at me, and not forced fed me, but I did not ask them to eat.

I pulled up, and I said, aren't you tired of eating this (inaudible) and all of this (inaudible) that you are eating and all of the same old (inaudible) that they were eating day after day.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LAVANDERA: And Don, in that tape also a little bit later on, you will hear him talking about how he was annoyed at Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield that they were shooting pistols at the range, and that he says, you want to shoot pistols like this is going to be a duel.

Again, this was recorded four months after the killings in February. This is recorded in the summer of 2013. This next piece of the tape, and a lot of the legal analysts we've had talking about this case say this is really one of the pieces of evidence that really sealed the deal for Eddie Ray Routh in the prosecution making its case.

But it is the confession tape. We will take you back to that where the investigator comes back and ask Eddie Ray Routh if he could tell the victims' families something, what would he tell them? Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there anything that you would like to say that you were sorry about what you have done to the families? What would you say to them if you had the opportunity to talk to them right now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would tell them that I was so sorry for what I had done. If I could I would have done it differently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Don, that demeanor as I pointed it out before that was demeanor throughout much of that confession tape. He is wearing the clothes that he wore to the gun range, and the prosecutors made a point in this case of also pointing out the boots that you see him wearing.

The right boot there at that time still had the blood of Chad Littlefield on top of it. Taking you right in there, this is just hours after the killings on February 2nd, 2013.

LEMON: And as you said, Ed, there is so much evidence that we have here, so much audio, so much video that we will get to in the moments that we have left. Ed Lavandera at the courthouse in Stephenville, Texas, we will get back to you in just a moment, standby.

When we come right back, more on our breaking news tonight, EDDIE RAY ROUTH found guilty of the "American Sniper" murders. Stay with me, everybody. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Our breaking news this evening, the "American Sniper" trial ends in guilty verdict. Eddie Ray Roth sentenced to life in prison for the murders of Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield.

Back with me now is Kimberly Priest Johnson and trial consultant, Richard Gabriel. Kimberly, I want to ask you because he has a right to appeal. What issues could possibly be brought up on an appeal? JOHNSON: One issue that I suspect will be brought up is the defense actually had another mental health expert who was not permitted to testify. They had a hearing outside of the presence of the jury, and the judge found out that he was not qualified to testify as an expert on what he wanted to testify about.

And so I suspect that that will be appealed that is something that would clearly hurt the defense. You know, the defense had the burden of proof to show that Routh was insane. Not the prosecution.

But the prosecution had two mental health expert witnesses, both were very credible, and the defense had one. And so the jury would have said, what, could the defense only find one person who would only say that he thought that he was insane.

So that is probably the number one thing that will be front and center of the appeal. You might also see the appeal on the basis that the jury was allowed to watch the Oscars, and offering some prejudice, and it is a point to be raised, but not a valid point, but another point to make.

LEMON: Richard, this is not a death penalty case, right? It is a possibility of a life without parole. Did that make the deliberations easier?

GABRIEL: Well, I think it did. I mean, jurors -- even though it is the same standard of proof, they actually raise the standard when it comes to a death penalty case. If they feel that they are going to be deciding on a person's life or death, they actually want that standard to be much higher.

The level of scrutiny that they put on the evidence is much higher, too. So I think made it made a big difference, made a lot easier for them to come to this verdict.

LEMON: OK. Standby, panel. We get back now to CNN's Ed Lavandera as we've telling you. You're going to hear never before seen video, never before heard audio in this case. Ed Lavandera joins us with more. What do you have for us now, Ed?

LAVANDERA: Well, this is another portion of the confession tape that was done in the Lancaster Police Department. This is in Eddie Ray Routh's hometown just after he was taken into custody.

If you've been following the case, you know there was a lot of talk about the pig people, and how he thought that Chad Littlefield and Chris Kyle were half pig and half-human hybrids. You can listen to a little bit of that portion of the confession tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROUTH: Well, I kept talking to Chris, you know, and every time I talked to one man named Chris, and it was like talking to the wolf, the one in the sky. The ones in the sky are the ones that I know fly. You know, the true pigs. I have been smelling them the whole time, you know (inaudible). I can smell (inaudible) and pigs and I can tell the difference of the two kinds of pigs. I don't know how you can smell your (inaudible) and I'm not trying to say that nobody (inaudible) is stinking, but it is stinking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And Don, that talk of making reference the pigs, and the pigs taking over the world is something that Eddie Ray Routh would continue to talk about later as he was interviewed extensively by the various medical experts in the case.

And remember, it's also one of the things that the prosecutors in the case who basically came after Eddie Ray Routh and said that in many ways, he was faking the seriousness of his diagnosis and his psychosis as well.

In fact, this talk of referencing pigs, an half pig, and half human hybrids was probably influenced by a "Seinfeld" TV episode that Eddie Ray Routh had been watching while inside the jail here in Stephenville during the last two year years.

The prosecutor said that he was prone to watching a lot of "Seinfeld" reruns inside the jail and that in many ways the later talk that continuing they felt was inspired by a lot of watching one particular episode where the character Kramer is convinced that he saw a half pig, half man running around a hospital.

LEMON: Ed Lavandera, thank you. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE JASON CASHON, ERATH COUNTY DISTRICT: We, the jury, find the defendant, Eddie Ray Routh, guilty of the felony offense of capital murder as charged in the indictment. The verdict is signed by Miss Stafford, as foreperson of the jury. You may be seated at this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Breaking news tonight, guilty verdict in the "American Sniper" trial, Eddie Ray Routh sentenced to life in prison for the murders of Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield. You heard the judge rendering that verdict just now.

Ed Lavandera is live outside the courthouse in Stephenville, Texas, where we are hearing never before heard audio before. What do you have for us now, Ed?

LAVANDERA: Don, well, I think one of the interesting as you watched the replay there of the guilty verdict being announced is no reaction from Eddie Ray Routh, that is consistent with what we have seen over the course of last two weeks, no emotion or reaction from Eddie Ray Routh throughout the testimony. More often than not, he would just sit there and take pages and pages and pages of notes of the testimony. This next piece of the confession tapes is Eddie Ray Routh talking about how he felt abandoned as a child.

It is interesting because one of the things that the prosecutors hammered away is how there was excuse after excuse after excuse why Eddie Ray Routh shot and killed Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield. Listen to that portion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROUTH: I have had abandonment issues and trust issues here, and I (inaudible) and I have been having problems in the town since I grew up, you know, since I was a boy. I'm trying to fix what is wrong with (inaudible) country right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And those explanations fell on deaf ears for the jury that convicted Eddie Ray Routh tonight. These prosecutors really hammered away at all of what they considered to be just excuses for carrying out these cold and calculated murders in the words of the prosecutors here tonight.

LEMON: All right, Ed Lavandera, standby.

I want to bring in Kimberly Priest Johnson now and trial consultant, Richard Gabriel. I was looking for a comment that someone sent in to me.

I want to read it to you, Kimberly, but basically it said that we failed three veterans tonight because of the veteran system here, and how we treat veterans and the treatment they get once they return from war. Do you believe that?

JOHNSON: I do. You know, the prosecution specifically said in the closing statement, the VA system is not on trial here, Eddie Ray Routh is. They knew that they had to say that because there was clearly an issue with the hospital releasing Eddie Ray Routh before he was ready to be released.

It is important also that in Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield's deaths, if something good can come out of the deaths, it could be raising the awareness and that we need more assistance for the people coming back from war.

We need more assistance for the families. We need better medical treatment, and, you know, I think that the "American Sniper" movie is doing that. That is something positive that could come out of something so tragic.

LEMON: Richard, I wish that I could get you in there, but we are at the end of the show now. I appreciate both of you staying around and helping us, guiding us through this. Our thanks to Kimberly Priest Johnson and also Richard Gabriel. That is it for us tonight. I'll see you right back here tomorrow night. The CNN report, "No Laughing Matter" inside of the Cosby allegations start right now here on CNN and remember right after that, we will have more live coverage from Atlanta.