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After a Texas jury found former Marine Eddie Ray Routh guilty of murder in the killings of Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield Tuesday, Littlefield's family told Today's Savannah Guthrie that "justice was served."
"It was an answered prayer," Judy Littlefield, Chad's mother, said Wednesday. "We waited a long time to hear that, and we feel justice was served."
During the trial, Routh's defense team claimed that he was mentally ill, but Littlefield's family, especially brother Jerry Richardson, didn't believe it. Richardson, who knew Routh from school, said it was just a ploy.
"It was all an act,'' he said. "I taught him in high school...that's just the way he was. He never grew up. He was still just opposite defiant, and he had nothing wrong in the mind except for the drug use."
As E! News reported, the jury sentenced Routh to life in prison without a chance for parole Tuesday. Routh's mother had asked Kyle to spend sometime with the troubled veteran, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and had also served in Iraq. Routh had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity for shooting Kyle and Littlefield at Rough Creek Lodge and Resort's shooting range.
Now that the trial has come to an end, Littlefield's family can focus on remembering their son and the beautiful moments they shared with him.
"He had a passion for veterans. Chad was always a helping hand," Judy explained. "He was a rock. He was just a good friend. If he was your good friend, you have a friend."
Although Kyle received much of the publicity because of the success of American Sniper, Littlefield's family believes that it actually worked in their favor for receiving a guilty verdict.
"Because Chad was not in the movie, because the attention was not focused on him, we think it helped the case because then when they wanted to change the venue they had to remember that two men were murdered that night, and Chad had not had the publicity that Chris had," Judy told Guthrie.
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