“I'm just tired of playing chess with my life.” 'I knew if I didn't take his soul, he was going take mine next,” Routh said to the police interrogator on the recording.

In a move that will likely help the defense, he described how he believed he was under threat in language that suggests he was having paranoid thoughts. In the afternoon session, the court was shown a recording of Routh’s police interrogation where he is shown with his hands cuffed behind his back. Kenny Phillips of the Erath County Jail said in court, noting that Routh's attitude changed “a great deal' during the ride. 'I would call him under the influence maybe,' Sgt. The Texas jailer who transported Routh after the slaying of Kyle and Littlefield said the suspect was irritated during the drive. I guess that's what they do,' Routh was heard saying on the tape. Four voicemail messages were played for the court, and while most were perfunctory, one that Routh left for Kyle was bizarre. I'm driving a dead man's truck.'Ĭall logs showed that Kyle and Routh spoke a few times before meeting, but all of the calls lasted between two and 15 minutes. Watson saw his nephew later in the day when he arrived at Watson’s home driving Kyle’s car, saying 'Check out my truck.

In one point that would likely help the defense, Watson said that Routh seemed to “find less joy” in his life after returning from a humanitarian mission in Haiti.īut in a point that might help the prosecution, he described their family as a “God-fearing” people and noted the Routh “knew right from wrong.” Moore went on to reveal that his odd behavior was even evident to Kyle and Littlefield, telling the jury that Kyle texted Littlefield while they were in the car with Routh, writing 'This dude is straight up nuts.' In the defense's opening statements, Routh's attorney Tim Moore called the shooting 'a tragedy' but made it clear that he would be using an insanity defense, saying Routh thought 'that he had to take their lives because, in his psychosis, he thought they were going to take his.' 'He admits that he murdered these two men, that he used drugs and alcohol that morning and he knew what he was doing was wrong,' Nash said. The prosecution previewed its case during the opening statements by saying that Routh, a then-25-year-old former Marine, used marijuana and drank whiskey the morning of the shooting.Įrath County District Attorney Alan Nash then detailed how he shot Kyle five times in the back and side and once in the top of the head, and shot Littlefield four times in the back, once in the hand, once in the face, and once in the top of the head.

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