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Pistorious - guilty of murder says SA Appeals court
Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 12:38 pm
by Guinevere
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/12/04/wo ... a&referer=
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s top appeals court ruled on Thursday that Oscar Pistorius, the Olympic star known as the Blade Runner, was guilty of murder in the 2013 killing of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, overturning a lower court’s conviction on the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Mr. Pistorius has already served about a year in prison and is now under house arrest for the previous conviction; a murder conviction carries a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.
The appeals court sided with state prosecutors on central points, saying that the manslaughter conviction, technically called culpable homicide, had been based on a misinterpretation of laws and an erroneous dismissal of circumstantial evidence.
The court said that Mr. Pistorius, who has said repeatedly that he accidentally killed his girlfriend when he believed his home had been broken into, should have foreseen that his actions would cause the death of a person.
Re: Pistorious - guilty of murder says SA Appeals court
Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 1:45 pm
by Lord Jim
Re: Pistorious - guilty of murder says SA Appeals court
Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 3:20 pm
by MajGenl.Meade
Off with his legs!
Oh...
Re: Pistorious - guilty of murder says SA Appeals court
Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 3:28 pm
by Lord Jim
That looks like Fred Flintstone in drag...
I don't know how the SA legal system works, so I don't know if he has some additional options to wriggle off the hook again...
I assume he has at least one appeal of this decision to make...
Nevertheless this is a very heartening development. The original decision and sentence, given the state of the evidence in this case was a complete travesty...
Almost as bad as the OJ acquittal...
Re: Pistorious - guilty of murder says SA Appeals court
Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 5:54 pm
by BoSoxGal
Re: Pistorious - guilty of murder says SA Appeals court
Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 7:22 pm
by rubato
They got it right, finally.
yrs,
rubato
Re: Pistorious - guilty of murder says SA Appeals court
Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 10:28 pm
by Long Run
Lord Jim wrote:
Almost as bad as the OJ acquittal...
And who wants to experience that spectacle again? Makes me wonder who will watch that new FX series.
Re: Pistorious - guilty of murder says SA Appeals court
Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2015 1:22 pm
by Lord Jim
Makes me wonder who will watch that new FX series.
Certainly not me...
I already know the story, and it doesn't have a happy ending...
