As the high-profile "American Sniper" murder trial begins Wednesday with opening statements, accused killer Eddie Routh's drastic change in appearance is garnering attention. It's a change that may not work in the former Marine and Iraq veteran's favor as he tries to plead insanity, according to a legal expert. 
 
 "If you see what he looked like at the time of his arrest, he really looks crazy. I mean, he looks like someone who has really had difficulties," CBS News legal analyst Rikki Klieman said Tuesday on "CBS This Morning." 
 
 Now, Klieman said he does not "in any way" look like the same person. 
 
 "What he looks like today is a reasonable person. He looks like someone who has put on a fair amount of weight; he has the glasses; he's communicating with his lawyers," Klieman said. 
 
 That could be bad news for the defense. 
 
 "His appearance back then at the time of the crime was of someone who really had a problem," Klieman said. 
 
 Routh allegedly shot Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, whose life was the subject of Oscar-nominated blockbuster "American Sniper," and his friend Chad Littlefield at a gun range on Feb. 2, 2013. 
 
 Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty for Routh, which Klieman said is a great strategic move. 
 
 "The prosecution, if it went to seek the death penalty in this case, would have the problem that ultimately that the jury would know that he does suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder," Klieman said. "The prosecution has taken that mitigating factor out. It's a smart, smart move." 
 
 The jury is made up of 10 women and two men, with one man and another woman selected as alternatives. Klieman said the number of women on the jury is "a bit startling." 
 
 "We can only deal in stereotypes here, and we understand that we don't know enough about these 10 women. However, you have to believe that in a quick jury selection like this, that there was a thought on the part of the defense that women would be more sympathetic, more empathetic, toward an insanity defense that is being put forth here," Klieman said. "So I get the defense." 
 
 As for the prosecution? 
 
 "Well, it's very possible that the prosecution said maybe women are more empathetic and sympathetic and they are going to feel for this great American hero, Chris Kyle. While saying that, I could not possibly be more stereotypical and more sexist by those comments," Klieman said. ||||| Mr. Routh’s lawyers, Warren St. John and Tim Moore, have included the movie and the local support for Mr. Kyle in their legal case, asking the judge to postpone the trial. They cited the popularity of the movie, its release in local theaters, the bomb threat and Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to declare Monday last week, the two-year anniversary of Mr. Kyle’s death, Chris Kyle Day in Texas. 
 
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 The judge, Jason Cashon of Erath County District Court, denied their request. Mr. Routh’s lawyers also asked the judge to move the proceedings out of Erath County, describing “so great a prejudice” against their client that he could not get a fair trial. 
 
 Judge Cashon turned down that motion as well, but it was clear last week as prospective jurors crowded the courtroom that he had concerns about the publicity surrounding the case. 
 
 “Stay away from it,” he told them bluntly. 
 
 A pool of about 240 qualified for jury selection. Prosecutors and defense lawyers questioned many of them Monday before a jury of 10 women and two men, plus two alternates, was sworn in. One prospective juror was dismissed for discussing the case with a reporter for The Independent, a British newspaper. 
 
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 Mr. Kyle, who became the military’s deadliest sniper while protecting Marines in Iraq, took Mr. Routh to the range on Feb. 2, 2013. Mr. Kyle often used trips to the range as a form of therapy for wounded and troubled veterans. Once there, Mr. Routh turned his handgun on Mr. Kyle, 38, and Mr. Kyle’s friend, Chad Littlefield, 35, and then fled in Mr. Kyle’s truck, the authorities said. 
 
 Mr. Routh has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers have told the judge that they planned to raise an insanity defense. Mr. Routh, a Marine veteran who served in Iraq, told the authorities in the months before the shooting that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. 
 
 Amid tight security that included bomb-sniffing dogs, a lawyer with the Texas Attorney General’s Office, who is assisting the Erath County district attorney in prosecuting the case, told prospective jurors about the legal parameters of an insanity defense. 
 
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 “One in five people have some kind of mental health problem,” said the assistant attorney general, Jane Starnes. “There is a big spectrum of mental health disorders. What the law doesn’t say is that everybody with a mental illness gets a free pass to commit a crime.” 
 
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 The trial, expected to last two weeks, will unfold in a criminal-justice building near the courthouse square and the life-size statue of Moo-La, a plastic cow celebrating the county’s status, in 1972, as the state’s top milk producer. Long before joining the Navy, Mr. Kyle had attended Tarleton State University here, the biggest employer in a town of nearly 19,000. 
 
 “We’ve never had anything like this in this town,” said Carol Gibson, 64, the owner of the Rockin’ P Bar and Grill across from the courthouse. “When it first happened, everybody was talking about it. Then it calmed down. Now the movie’s come out, the trial’s getting closer, and the talk is back up about it again.” 
 
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 The movie has only heightened Mr. Kyle’s stature in Texas. His memorial service was held at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, his coffin, draped with flag, resting on the giant blue star at the 50-yard line. He was buried in Austin at the Texas State Cemetery, alongside former Texas governors and senators. Many of the county residents who received the 800 juror summonses that officials mailed out have seen the film, although Judge Cashon told them that having watched “American Sniper” did not automatically disqualify them. 
 
 “If ever there were grounds for an out-of-state change of venue, this has to be the case,” said Brock Hunter, a Minneapolis lawyer who is an expert on defending veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder in criminal cases. “The tough-minded Texas culture would make it difficult enough, but this veteran has the additional burden of having killed a bona fide Texas hero.” 
 
 Other lawyers disagreed. 
 
 “I’m not sure that knowing who the victim is, or having an opinion about the victim, necessarily means that the accused can or cannot get a fair trial,” said Anthony G. Buzbee, a Houston trial lawyer who handles high-profile cases, including defending former Gov. Rick Perry in his criminal case. “Setting aside the movie or the book, what Chris Kyle was about and the fact that he was trying to assist the accused at the time of the alleged crime will make it a difficult case to defend no matter where it is tried. But that is just the facts of the case that create that difficulty, not a movie or venue.” 
 
 Hours after his arrest, Mr. Routh confessed to the murders in an interview with the authorities that was videotaped and later played at a pretrial hearing. Mr. Routh told a Texas Ranger, Danny L. Briley, that he was struggling with unnamed forces “eating at his soul,” and rambled at times about pigs and “talking to the wolf, the one in the sky.” 
 
 Mr. Routh said that neither Mr. Kyle nor Mr. Littlefield had known he was going to shoot them, and that the one he had shot first was “the one I could clearly identify,” referring to Mr. Kyle. “I knew if I did not take his soul, he was going to take mine,” he said.
– While Hollywood celebrities debate the politics underlying American Sniper, new drama is set to unfold in Stephenville, Texas. The trial of 27-year-old Eddie Ray Routh, accused of murdering Navy SEAL Chris Kyle (on whom the movie was based) and friend Chad Littlefield at a shooting range in 2013, will begin there tomorrow. Residents are bracing for more publicity amid the conversation of what caused one veteran to kill another—and whether Routh will be able to get a fair trial, the New York Times reports. "We've never had anything like this in this town," says the owner of a bar across from the courthouse. With the movie out and the trial set to begin, everybody's talking about the case, which is part of why Routh's lawyers contend there's no way he'll get a fair shake. In a denied request to move the trial out of Erath County, they pointed to the movie's popularity (many locals receiving jury summonses had seen it, the Times notes), a pre-jury-selection bomb threat, and Kyle's hero status in the area as proof that Routh won't find a sympathetic ear. Routh, a Marine veteran who reportedly told authorities before the shootings that he had post-traumatic stress disorder, has pleaded not guilty, and attorneys have indicated they'll use an insanity defense. But a CBS News legal analyst thinks Routh's changed appearance since his arrest—he's put on some weight and wears glasses—won't help that case. He looked "crazy" at the time of the shooting, says Rikki Klieman. "What he looks like today is a reasonable person."