Timing can be everything.
Chris Kyle's murder has been adjudicated; Eddie Ray Routh was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Here we are, post "American Sniper" brouhaha, and wasn't it just perfect timing for that film to have come out? Chris Kyle crowned as sniper patriot by so much of mass media; there is simply no way that an average person could have served as a juror in that trial without the film, and it's inundant controversy, affecting their choice.
Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield take Eddie Routh to a gun range as 'therapy.' Both informal therapists are killed by their patient. America decides that the problem lies with the man who needed the therapy to begin with; this man could not possibly have been insane; insane people do not kill American heroes; cold-blooded killers kill American heroes.
Chris Kyle was a hero and a sniper, according to Governors Rick Perry and Greg Abbot: there is Chris Kyle law in Texas, and a Chris Kyle Day. A film based on the book Mr.Kyle wrote was nominated for an Oscar. The actor portraying Mr.Kyle was nominated for his performance.
Eddie Ray Routh, on the other hand, is a cold-blooded killer; the jury said so, and that makes it a verdict, whether it is true or not.