Suspected 'American Sniper' Killer Eddie Ray Routh to Go to Trial
— -- The murder trial of the man accused of killing the real-life "American Sniper" is scheduled to begin next month.
Marine Corps veteran Eddie Ray Routh is accused of killing Chris Kyle in February 2013, four years after Kyle was honorably discharged from the Navy. Kyle is the inspiration behind the box-office hit "American Sniper."
Routh's trial is scheduled to start on Feb. 11, pending jury selection in the days prior, according to the clerk for Erath County District Court in Texas.
In the years leading up to his death, Kyle had begun working with wounded veterans and, in some cases, he spent time with them on the shooting range. One particular session turned deadly.
Prosecutors have said they will not seek the death penalty for Routh in the gun range killing of Kyle and Kyle's friend, Chad Littlefield.
Routh reportedly went to his sister Laura Blevins' house after the shooting. Once he left, she called 911. On the recording of the call, she can be heard telling the dispatcher that her brother admitted to her that he killed two people at a shooting range, and that she was terrified that he was going hurt her.
"He was recently diagnosed with PTSD. ... He just got out of a mental hospital last week," her husband Gaines Blevins said later on the call, referring to post traumatic stress disorder.
"My client will plead not guilty by reason of insanity," Routh's attorney, J. Warren St. John, told People Magazine in a report on Wednesday.
St. John, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News, has previously said he is concerned about getting an impartial jury, in part, due to the film starring Bradley Cooper.
"The film will be an issue," St. John told People. "I think any case with significant publicity has an issue with picking a jury. I've had them in the past, and anything that has significant national attention makes it hard to pick a jury."
Routh's attorneys filed a motion in 2013 to change the location of the trial, but it was denied.
