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New Day

Killer of American Sniper Chris Kyle Found Guilty of Murder; DHS Funding Bill Still Stalled in Senate; Interview with Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe; Jury Rejects Routh's Insanity Defense

Aired February 25, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We, the jury --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was looking for help for my son.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- find the defendant, Eddie Ray Routh guilty.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've waited two years for God to get justice for us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nearly 100 Christians in northeast Syria were kidnapped.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They want to horrify the west.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An extremist violent interpretation of Islam.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An arrest in the collision between a metro link commuter train and a produce truck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As I came through the crossing the car exploded. It felt like an eternity until we came to a stop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira.

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CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, February 25th, just after 8:00 in the east. And we have a major headline. Eddie Ray Routh found guilty for the murders of American sniper Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield. The verdict rendered in just two-and-a-half hours.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: A Texas jury not buying that Routh was legally insane at the time of the murders. The judge in the case immediately sentencing Routh to life in prison without the possibility of parole. CNN's Martin Savidge is live from Stephenville, Texas, this morning for us. Boy, the jury sure made their decision fast.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They did, indeed, Alisyn. In fact, we've spoken to court officials and they even suggest it was faster than we first believed because after it went into the hands of the jury, the first thing they did was, of course, elect a foreperson. Then they had dinner. And it was really after dinner they began deliberations. So what we're saying here is you could almost have timed their deliberations using a stopwatch. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDY LITTLEFIELD, MOTHER OF CHAD LITTLEFIELD: We've waited two years for God to get justice for us on behalf of our son.

SAVIDGE: Breaking overnight, the American sniper trial captivating a nation is over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We, the jury, find the defendant, Eddie Ray Routh, guilty.

SAVIDGE: Deliberating for less than three hours. The jury found 27- year-old Eddie Ray Routh --

EDDIE RAY ROUTH: I told her I had to kill men today.

SAVIDGE: -- guilty of killing former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield. The former marine seemingly showing no reaction as the judge sentenced him to a life behind bars without parole.

TIM MOORE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He thought he had to take their lives because he was in danger.

SAVIDGE: Jurors rejecting defense arguments that Routh, diagnosed with PTSD, was legally insane.

ROUTH: I've been so paranoid and schizophrenic all day I don't know what to even think of the world right now.

SAVIDGE: The 27-year-old, shown here in 2013 moments after police arrested him for shooting Kyle and Littlefield multiple times at a gun range. Later, Routh told police he believed his victims were pig human hybrids.

ROUTH: They're pigs. I've been smelling it this whole time.

SAVIDGE: In an unusual circumstance the judge barred audio from the trial until the verdict was reached.

JODI ROUTH, MOTHER OF CONVICTED KILLER: He was very suicidal.

SAVIDGE: Routh's mother Jodi, who claimed Eddie once threatened to kill himself and their family, retold what she did the moment she heard her son killed Kyle.

JODI ROUTH: I had Chris's phone number in my phone and I dialed that number praying to god that he would answer.

SAVIDGE: Taya Kyle, the wife of the former sniper, was overcome with emotion on the stand.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take a minute if you need to.

SAVIDGE: Recalling the last time she saw her husband.

TAYA KYLE, WIFE OF CHRIS KYLE: We said we loved each other and gave a kiss and a hug like we always did.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Such a powerful moment there. I was in the courtroom when she gave that testimony. And Taya Kyle was not in the courtroom when the verdict was read. She stormed out actually during closing arguments. She was very angry by some of the depictions that the defense used in describing the death of her husband and his best friend. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Martin Savidge, thank you for all of that background.

So how did the jury reach their guilty verdict? Well, some of the jurors are now speaking out. We will have that with our legal panel just ahead.

CUOMO: All right, will America be safe after Friday? Scary question, but it's a real one because the fight over finding in the department of homeland security still going on. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell offering Democrats a compromise to avert a partial shutdown of the agency, but not really a clear path is what we're being told. CNN's Jim Acosta joins us from the White House. What's in this plan? How is it going over in the Senate, the House? What do we know?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Is there ever a clear path here in Washington, Chris? That is the question. You know, one thing we should point out is President Obama will be amping up the pressure on Capitol Hill later on today. He meets with immigration reform advocates here at the White House, and then he travels down to Florida for a town hall on this subject.

But meanwhile, as you mentioned, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, has crafted a plan to see our way out of this. Essentially first it would offer a vote for a clean DHS funding bill. That would avert a shutdown for the department at the end of the week, and then also allow Republicans to vote on a separate Bill that would essentially register their complaints because it wouldn't actually defeat the president's executive action on immigration because he would never sign that into law.

But at the same time Democrats are skeptical of this proposal because they're not sure this will ever get out of the House. Here's what Senate minority leader Harry Reid said yesterday.

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HARRY REID, (D-NV) SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Lest the speaker is in on the proposal, of course we have to make sure that we get a bill to the president, not that we send a hot potato to Boehner. That doesn't do the trick.

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ACOSTA: And Harry Reid still recovering from an exercise accident there, wearing those sunglasses. But he's ready and used to these fights on Capitol Hill. And speaking of hot potatoes, there was one that landed on the president's desk yesterday. That was the bill to push forward the completion of the Keystone pipeline. The president vetoed that legislation, saying he does not want the Congress to force him into approving that legislation.

And put this up on screen if you can, just to give you a sense of how little used that veto pen is for President Obama. Only three times during his presidency, including yesterday, and that was the first major piece of legislation that was vetoed by this president. Compare that to his predecessors. He's got some catching up to do. The White House thinks he'll do this with all of the bills coming out of the Republican Congress that are expected to come out of the Republican Congress.

But, guys, it's anybody's guess as to whether or not Capitol Hill will actually pass legislation that the president could veto. So we'll have to wait to see if that happens.

CAMEROTA: Yes, there's lots of suspense about that. Jim Acosta, thanks so much.

Joining us now to discuss all of this is Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe. Good morning, governor.

GOV. TERRY MCAULIFFE, (D) VIRGINIA: Alisyn, good morning.

CAMEROTA: OK, so we tend to think of this DHS battle for funding at contained on Capitol Hill, but is particularly relevant and critical to governors across the country because you rely on this funding. So what happens in Virginia if you don't get this funding on Friday?

MCAULIFFE: Well, you're exactly right. This affects every governor in America. We just had the National Governors Association meeting in Washington, and I made the point to all our governors, this goes to every single state. If this funding is cut on Friday, let's just take Virginia, thousands of Virginians will be furloughed. Many thousands more will have to report to work and they won't get a paycheck. Not many families can go by. They're trying to provide for their families, trying to put food on the table. What is going to happen on Friday is that those paychecks will stop.

We have the deepest port in the east coast. We have the largest naval base in the world. This will affect the Coast Guard. This will affect FEMA. Alisyn, I'm leaving here flying down to Southwest Virginia for an emergency situation. The folks I'm meeting with at the local level are sheriffs and emergency management folks. They all have matching grants with DHS. That stops.

So this partisan politics has got to stop. This is an agency that protects the homeland of the United States of America. We have folks who are working very hard. Three southern governors yesterday have just declared a state of emergency. That is FEMA money. That money goes away. We've got to get the partisan politics out of this and fund the Department of Homeland Security on Friday, do a clean Bill, fund it, because it's too important to the safety of the United States of America.

CAMEROTA: It's interesting that you say do a clean bill because that's what Senator Mitch McConnell is suggesting, separate the bills between DHS and immigration so that people have to take a vote on DHS separately. If that does not happen, is it the Democrats' fault? If they reject Senator Mitch McConnell's plan, is the blame shouldered by the Democrats?

MCAULIFFE: Listen, this should not be a partisan issue. If you have a clean vote for the funding of the Department of Homeland Security, I would encourage every member of Congress to go out and support that whether you be a Democrat or Republican. That would be -- and I would support Senator Leader Mitch McConnell's efforts. Let's have a clean vote on this bill. Let's fund the DHS.

But my message to everybody in the country is in every locality today there is a matching grant. The other issue, Alisyn, which many folks don't know, is that a continuing resolution is not a solution for us governors because all new grants are stopped. So a continuing resolution doesn't help us either because all new grants that go out to the states would also be stopped.

Why are you tying immigration to the funding of DHS? If you want to have a debate on immigration, I am all for that. It's needed in this country, but that should be separate. But why would you possibly stop the funding for the agency that is responsible for protecting our homeland at a time that we have so many issues? It's not only about our national security, Alisyn. It is a huge economic driver. As the governor of the commonwealth of Virginia, so many thousands of Virginians will go without paychecks. We went through this back in late '13. It was devastating for families in Virginia, devastating for our economy, and now you add on the issue of protecting the homeland. They have to stop this partisan politics. We have to move forward.

CAMEROTA: I mean, so isn't the answer what you're suggesting, this clean bill? Why aren't they doing that today? What's the holdup?

MCAULIFFE: I hope they do. And I think the issue is when it gets over to the House, is the speaker going to bring that bill up or will they have a House vote on it? I'm sure it will get out of the Senate and I hope it will get out of the House.

I think put this issue aside. There is angst today. Let's be clear, the folks at DHS today who are responsible for doing the grants and getting the money to the states, they won't be there after Friday. And they are now thinking about what are they going to do.

Our Department of Homeland Security, Alisyn, should be focused on exactly that, protecting the homeland, not worried about a partisan political fight on Capitol Hill. They're worried, am I going to be able to put food on the table for my children? It's not right. It's not fair. We've got to stop this. It's similar to the transportation funding bill. In Virginia if they don't do this transportation funding for the National Highway Transportation fund, we stop in Virginia 350 projects immediately. We lose $1 billion. We can't plan long term to build the infrastructure of our roads. We need to be competitive on a global basis economically, and we are continually having our hands tied behind our back because the dysfunction in the Congress today. It needs to end. Let's think about America. Let's put America first and let's grow and build our economy and keep us safe.

CAMEROTA: Governor, I want to ask you about something that you're doing later this morning. You are going to meet with the secretary of the V.A., Robert McDonald. As you know, he's caused a bit of a kerfuffle by suggesting that served on the Special Forces in the military as opposed to 82nd airborne division. He has now apologized. Do you think that's enough?

MCAULIFFE: I do. I watched the press conference yesterday. I've seen the veterans' groups have come out and said he has really done a great job of providing the services. He said he made a mistake. He apologized. I'm going to see him today. I'll be the first governor to see him today because, first and foremost, Virginia, we have over 800,000 veterans. We have the fastest growing veteran population in America. We have more women veterans, more veterans under the age of 25 than any state in America. I want to make sure we're providing access to health care to our veteran.

I one of the governors in our country who want to end veteran homelessness in 2015. I have to do that working with the V.A. So I'm going to go meet with the secretary today with my respective team to talk about how do we work together to help our veterans. They have served our nation. Let's get them credentialing. Let's move them into the workforce. Let's provide health care. We cannot be having our veterans waiting 60, 80, 120 days to get health care.

So we are leading the nation right now in Virginia. We just put together our new health care plan with 22 new sights to access health care for our veterans. So if you're over 30 days or further than 40 miles out, you can go to one of our new sights to get health care immediately. We owe it to our veterans and that's why I'm meeting with the secretary today.

CAMEROTA: Governor, last, we want to ask you about your old friend Hillary Clinton. We say her yesterday was working the room in Silicon Valley. When will she end the parlor game and announce that she's running for president?

MCAULIFFE: Well, listen, I'm really hopeful that she's going to run for president. I think she is obviously going through that process to make that decision. And when she's ready to go, she will announce. I think she's meeting with folks and putting her plan together what she wants to do. So I remind everybody that her husband in 1991 actually got in the campaign in October. So I'm not saying that's when Hillary will do it, but she's got time. She's putting her plans together and making that decision. I really hope she runs. She will be spectacular for our country. She'll continue to get the economy moving for everybody in the nation and keep our country strong.

And pivoting back to the DHS, Hillary Clinton will make sure that this nation is secure and that our economy is humming for every single American. So I'm ready for Hillary for president.

CAMEROTA: We can hear that. You are a good champion for Hillary Clinton. Governor Terry McAuliffe, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

MCAULIFFE: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Nice to see you. Let's get over to Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much, Alisyn.

ISIS is targeting Christians, again this time terrorizing villages in northeast Syria, kidnapping as many as 150 Syrian Christians in pre- dawn raids. The terror group is expected to release a message today about those hostages. Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is tracking the latest for us live from London. What, if anything, can be done to help these people?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's what they're worried about right now. There is a Syrian human rights group based in Sweden. We've been talking to them. And they are very worried. They believe that this message is going to be some kind of threat against their people. These 150 people, it's women, it's children, it's the elderly, there are priests involved there, and it's not just there's 150 who are at risk. The concern is that right now that the understanding is that ISIS has taken them deeper into their territory, possibly into their headquarters in Raqqa. That means getting them out is going to be so much harder. That's one of the places ISIS is believed to have held hostages over the long term in the past.

But you also have in this same area now according to the same group thousands of families forced out of their homes. They're also saying that some 600 people at the moment are crowded for shelter and security inside a cathedral in the area where all of this is going on.

So, the real concern is ISIS is opening up a new front targeting Christians again. They were overheard on one of their walkie-talkie radios as saying that they've captured crusaders. These are Christian families that have been living in Syria for hundreds and hundreds of years, Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Nic, thank you very much for the reporting.

Let's go to Ukraine now. The cease-fire there still in some type of confused limbo, but the army is getting some much need help from the West. Seventy-five British soldiers will be sent to Ukraine to provide training and nonlethal support. Ukraine's president calls it a step in the right direction.

This as the U.S. announces its own plan to deploy up to 10 U.S. troops to Ukraine to provide a second round of combat medical training. CAMEROTA: Here's a strange story. A real mystery unfolding in

France. For the second straight night, drones have been spotted flying over Paris landmarks. Five detected in a three-hour span. On Monday night, drones were seen over the Eiffel Tower and the U.S. embassy. Flying drones at night is illegal in Paris and daytime flights require special authorization. A team of investigators is now working this case.

PEREIRA: Got to show you some dramatic video. A driver was thrown from his car. Watch your screen after he lost control on a snowy road in Cleveland. The video is from a patrol car's dash cam. The driver is ejected from the SUV as it veers over four lanes before crashing into the guardrail. You can see him lying there.

Watch this. He gets up and he stumbles a bit but he essentially walks away. We're told that he was treated for a concussion and back injuries at an area hospital. The driver says he has no memory of what happened after -- for the accident and when he was ejected, but local reports say that he was cited for that initial traffic accident.

CAMEROTA: That's incredible.

PEREIRA: I've never seen anything like that.

CAMEROTA: He's bullet proof.

CUOMO: Well, I think he may one up, I don't know, the guy that went off the truck on the ramp.

PEREIRA: Maybe.

CAMEROTA: I don't know.

CUOMO: How did he get ejected out the side window?

PEREIRA: So many questions. So hard to see so far away.

CUOMO: What an amazing thing to see. Wow.

CAMEROTA: All right. Back to our breaking news, Eddie Ray Routh found guilty in the American sniper murder trial. Why were jurors not convinced by the insanity defense? Our legal experts will weigh in.

CUOMO: And it is unbelievable that no one died in that fiery crash between a pickup and Metrolink train in California. Now, a few years ago probably wouldn't have been the case. We'll tell you why.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We, the jury, find the defendant, Eddie Ray Routh guilty of the offense of capital murder as charged in the indictment. That verdict is signed by Ms. Stafford as foreperson of the jury. You may be seated at this time.

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CUOMO: Decisive and quick. Just 2 1/2 hours, including dinner, for a jury of 10 women and two men to return that guilty verdict in Eddie Ray Routh's murder trial. The Iraq war vet gunned down American sniper Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield.

The defense had argued that Routh was legally insane when the murders happened, but the jury did not believe that, even more likely than not, which is a lower standard. Why?

We can tell you now through the elements and we have our experts here to help you through.

We have Midwin Charles, criminal defense attorney, and Paul Callan, a CNN legal analyst, senior partner at Callan Legal, and a former New York City homicide prosecutor and criminal defense attorney.

All right. Let's take a look at the elements. Most importantly, we don't have to speculate about what the jurors think. Here they are and here's what they say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUROR: When I say there's a pattern that we saw, it was, you know, he would be -- he would get intoxicated, get in trouble and then the police would show up and he would say, I'm a veteran, I have PTSD, I'm insane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: So --

MIDWIN CHARLES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Wow.

CUOMO: First of all, do you think that's a fair representation of what was presented to them at trial, Midwin?

CHARLES: I think they put it together. I do think that was a fair representation of what they saw at trial, which was they were paying attention, which I think is something that I always tell my clients. Like, you know, when we're going to go to trial, be aware that the jury is going to pay attention of everything that has happened. And I think the prosecutors did a very good job of pointing out exactly how Eddie Ray Routh behaved. Were there times when he sort of self- medicated?

Self -- you know, made sure that he was taking drugs or what-have-you, and then tried to do something and then hide behind this veil of mental illness.

CUOMO: But more likely than not is a low standard. That's what the defense standard was to prove insanity. Obviously, the prosecutors behind a reasonable doubt, that was easy here, because he obviously did it.

But even though supporting the prosecution here for us, Paul, more likely than not he was put inside four times for profound mental illness. Everybody in his life says that he was profoundly mentally ill. He was on nine different medications. He's talking about flying pigs and all of these other things.

What stopped the jury from seeing it that way?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You know, Chris, if the verdict was is he mentally ill or not mentally ill, they would have found him mentally ill, but that's not what the law is. The law is was he legally insane? And that juror is focusing on a very important point, which is voluntary intoxication which makes your psychiatric condition worse is no defense in Texas.

CUOMO: I feel like it sounded they were saying he was faking it. Listen to the mom.

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REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) the Dallas V.A. wanted them to admit your son?

JODI ROUTH: Absolutely I did. On Thursday they called me at school and said, we're releasing Eddie, you need to pick them up.

REPORTER: You begged the U.S. government not to release your son?

ROUTH: Yes, sir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Why didn't this go to whether or not he's faking or really ill, Midwin?

CHARLES: I just think that the focus that the jury did hear is they were looking at whether or not he knew the difference of right or wrong at the time of the crime. So, yes u the defense did remarkable job of pointing out that this is someone with a mental illness. I don't know that anyone could deny that, but I think the focus is on the day that it happened at the time that it happened. And when you look at his actions after the fact --

CUOMO: Right. Here's a good example of that.

CHARLES: They did think he knew that.

CUOMO: Here he is in the back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDDIE RAY ROUTH: I've been so paranoid schizophrenic all day, I don't even know what to think of the world right now. I don't know if I'm insane or, sane, I don't even know what's sane in the world right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: This is right after the shooting. This is what Midwin is talking about. What did that mean to the jury? CALLAN: This played very much into the jury's decision because they thought he was manipulative, that he was faking. And he -- this doesn't resonate with somebody --

CUOMO: That he says what he says when it suits him.

CALLAN: That's right. I'm paranoid, I'm schizophrenic, pay attention to it because it's going to be my defense in this murder case. That's sort of the feeling they had. Remember the pig man stuff saying that he had contrived this based on television shows the jury knew about as well.

CUOMO: Do you think that the standard was applied properly here under Texas law? I don't think anybody's going to dispute that. These ten women, women an advantage on a jury, more open-minded, feeling emotional. Sometimes guys can be too rigid. You guys know that very well.

So, you had the right jurors. They knew the law. They got it right.

Do you think it's the right standard?

CHARLES: I do think it's the right standard. One of the things that I find most interesting about this case and about the trial is the discussion of mental illness. There are thousands of Americans that suffer mental illness, but that does not in and of itself make them criminals. It doesn't make them killers.

I think the standard is a strict one. I think it's important and I think it's necessary because you do not want to lump everyone with a mental illness into this category --

CUOMO: And PTS --

CHARLES: -- of getting away with crimes.

CUOMO: -- which also put on display here. They said we think he's faking PTS. Not often faked but very rarely makes someone violent. But this man, this is who we're talking about, this is the girlfriend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At the time we had decorative ninja swords by our door. When we got to the door he grabbed a sword and said, no, we're not going anywhere, and proceeded to insist that people were out to get us and we needed to stay in the apartment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: He was having a paranoid delusion that she said at the time was not drug addled mind. Why doesn't that resonate in a way that goes to the standard? Yes, not all mentally ill people will start acting in violent ways? This guy did.

CALLAN: Well, I think that's why I have to disagree with Midwin on whether it's an appropriate standard in Texas. The Texas standard is just, does the mentally deranged person understand the difference between right and wrong?

A lot of very severely mentally disturbed people within their psychosis understand right and wrong. I don't think it's a good way to evaluate mental illness. I think you should be looking at the nature of the disease. Maybe you should rate it on a 1 to 10 scale. If you're at 10, the most disturbed, maybe that's an area where you should get the defense and maybe under 5 you shouldn't.

I think we need a more scientific way to quantify this than, does he know right and wrong?

CUOMO: The irony is you lost two great men, fathers, husbands, brothers and that will never be replaced. Those families are destroyed by their loss. They'll find a way to go forward, we hope, but Chris Kyle was helping Eddie Ray Routh. He recognized him as someone who was suffering with mental defect and now, he will be put into a fate where he will never be helped again because he's going to be in prison. As we all know, that ain't a place for rehabilitation, it's just to hold him in a box.

Anyway, thank you so much for taking us through these elements because now we can see how the jury got to where they got so quickly.

Paul Callan, Midwin Charles, thank you very much.

CHARLES: You're welcome.

CALLAN: Thank you, Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris.

Dozens of people injured in a fiery crash involving a passenger train and a pickup truck. Why this disaster could have been deadly and much worse if it had happened just a few years earlier.

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