STEPHENVILLE, Texas » The mother of the former Marine accused of killing "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle and another man testified that she didn’t know after asking Kyle to help her troubled son that they’d be going to a shooting range.

Jodi Routh, defendant Eddie Ray Routh’s mother, said under cross-examination by prosecutors Tuesday she didn’t know Kyle’s plan. Asked if she regretted not telling Kyle of threats Routh had made to kill himself and his family, she said she just wanted help for him.

Routh is charged in the 2013 deaths of the former Navy SEAL and his friend, Chad Littlefield, at the range.

The trial has drawn intense interest, partly because of an Oscar-nominated film based on Kyle’s memoir.

Routh, whose attorneys are mounting an insanity defense, has pleaded not guilty.