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Oscar Pistorius Convicted Of Negligent Killing, Could Face Jail Time

Oscar Pistorius Convicted Of Negligent Killing, Could Face Jail Time

By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times

PRETORIA, South Africa — South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius, who was cleared of murder in the killing of his girlfriend, was convicted Friday on the lesser charge of culpable homicide.

Judge Thokozile Masipa accepted the athlete’s defense that he mistook Reeva Steenkamp for an intruder. But she found that he was negligent when he fired four shots into the door of a toilet cubicle where the 29-year-old model had locked herself in the early hours of Valentine’s Day last year.
The judge asked Pistorius to stand to hear the verdict.

“The accused is found not guilty and discharged,” she said of the murder charges. “Instead he is found guilty of culpable homicide.”

Pistorius, who repeatedly broke down in tears during months of testimony, stood straight, staring ahead without showing any emotion.

Prosecutors had contended that Pistorius, 27, wanted to kill Steenkamp after they had an argument. South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority expressed its disappointment over the verdict and said it would make a decision about whether to appeal after sentencing.

Pistorius could face significant prison time — or none at all — depending on how reckless he was in the judge’s view. A sentencing hearing is scheduled Oct. 13, when the defense and prosecution will make submissions to the court.

Pistorius, a double amputee, won fame and adulation for running in the 2012 Olympic Games in London on prosthetic legs, attracting sponsorships worth millions of dollars. Sponsors abruptly dropped him after the murder charges, and he appeared to lose public support after his poor performance on the witness stand.

His acquittal on the murder charges raises the possibility that he might resume a sporting career. But the emotional frailty he showed throughout the trial, weeping frequently and vomiting on hearing descriptions of Steenkamp’s wounds, may have irreparably damaged the Pistorius brand that sponsors once clamored for.

Although Masipa concluded there was insufficient evidence to convict the athlete of murder, she found him guilty of a negligent, although unintentional killing, known in South Africa as culpable homicide.

“The conduct of the accused shortly after the incident is inconsistent with the conduct of someone who intended to commit murder,” Masipa said.
Pistorius shouted for help, called an ambulance and security, tried to save Steenkamp’s life, and prayed to God to save her.

“From the above it cannot be said that the accused did not entertain a genuine belief that there was an intruder in the bathroom who posed a direct threat to his life,” Masipa said.

She also said there was no evidence that Pistorius foresaw the consequences of firing four bullets into the cubicle.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel asked Masipa not to extend the athlete’s bail because of the serious nature of the conviction. He noted that Pistorius was involved in “an incident” at a nightclub in July. He also argued that Pistorius was a flight risk, saying he had sold his two last properties, and that there was nothing to keep him in South Africa.

Defense lawyer Barry Roux conceded that Pistorius should not have been at the nightclub and knew that appearing in public “invites problems.” But he said Pistorius sold the property to cover his legal costs and that that move showed his respect for the legal system.

Masipa was not persuaded by Nel’s argument. Pistorius remained free on bail.

Masipa began Friday by acquitting Pistorius of an unrelated charge of recklessly firing a weapon out of the sunroof of a car. She said the prosecution witnesses, both former friends of Pistorius, contradicted each other and that one of them was dishonest.

The judge also acquitted Pistorius on a charge of illegal possession of ammunition.

However, Masipa convicted Pistorius of recklessly discharging a firearm in a public place, in connection with an incident at a crowded restaurant north of Johannesburg called Tashas. Pistorius said the gun went off in his hands. The judge said he should not have asked to handle a gun in a crowded place, and she accepted the evidence of witnesses that he was warned that the weapon was loaded.

Many South Africans were surprised that the judge, though she found that Pistorius was dishonest when he repeatedly insisted that he never intended to fire the fatal shots, still acquitted him of murder. Some legal analysts suggested that Masipa had made a mistake that could provide a basis for an appeal.

But Masipa cited a legal precedent cautioning a judge against a guilty conviction just because an accused person lied under oath.

After the court recessed for a short break Friday, Pistorius remained in his place for a few minutes, then stood up, alone, fiddling with notes, still showing no emotion. His sister, Aimee Pistorius, was the first to approach and comfort him. Other family members stood in their places, as though still digesting the news of Pistorius’ conviction.

His uncle, Arnold Pistorius, turned to journalists, saying the damage done to the athlete by the trial was “tragic” and could never be rectified.
Later, he delivered a brief statement to reporters expressing the family’s gratitude to the judge for acquitting Pistorius of murder and saying a huge burden had been lifted.

With his wife, Lois, beside him, he said the family never doubted his nephew’s account. He added that they were deeply affected by Steenkamp’s death and said their hearts went out to her family, friends and supporters.

The Steenkamp family sat talking quietly among themselves.

AFP Photo/Kim Ludbrook

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Pistorius Found Not Guilty Of Murder

Pistorius Found Not Guilty Of Murder

Pretoria (AFP) – “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius was found not guilty of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp Thursday, a shock decision that left the South African celebrity athlete sobbing with emotion in the dock.

“The state clearly has not proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty of premeditated murder,” Thokozile Masipa told the High Court in Pretoria.

“Viewed in its totality the evidence failed to establish that the accused had the requisite intention to kill the deceased let alone with premeditation,” she said.

Pistorius could still be found guilty of culpable homicide, carrying anything from a suspended sentence to a lengthy prison stretch, or he could be acquitted.

Judge Masipa was expected to disclose her verdict on this charge after the lunch break.

When he heard the judgement, the 27-year-old Pistorius, a double-amputee Paralympian sprinter, sat in the dock bowed and burying his head in his hands.

After court adjourned for lunch, his sister Aimee rushed from the first row of the public gallery to hug her older brother, who was wiping tears from his eyes with a handkerchief.

The victim’s parents, Barry and June Steenkamp, left the courtroom with stony faces.

When asked if this is good news for Pistorius, his Aunt Lois replied, “It’s not the end you know, we’re still listening.”

Legal experts voiced shock at the dismissal of murder charges, and predicted the case that has gripped South Africans for a year would not rest with the verdict.

Both defense and prosecution agree that Pistorius killed Steenkamp a law graduate and fashion model, when he fired four shots through a locked toilet door in his upmarket Pretoria home.

But the sprinter says he thought he was shooting at an intruder while Steenkamp was safely in bed.

The prosecution says he killed her in a fit of rage after an argument.

Judge Masipa moved quickly through her judgement, rejecting state evidence that pointed to an argument between the couple.

“Neither the evidence of the loving relationship or a relationship turned sour can assist this court to determine whether the accused had the requisite intention to kill the deceased,” she said.

The judge also reviewed evidence by neighbors who testified to hearing shots and screams, saying many “had their facts wrong”.

She said the huge media coverage of the case could have affected some witnesses.

“I am of the view that they failed to separate what they knew personally or what they heard from other people or what they gathered from the media,” she said.

But Masipa also said Pistorius himself was “evasive” on the stand, and that his evidence showed “a number of defenses, or apparent defenses”.

“The accused was a very poor witness,” she said.

The verdict is the climax of a six-month murder trial that has cast a harsh spotlight on the fallen hero’s private life.

Full of high drama, the trial has fed intense media interest worldwide, with live broadcasts veering into the realm of TV reality shows.

During proceedings Pistorius has broken down, weeping and at times vomiting as he heard how the 29-year-old blonde’s head “exploded” like a watermelon under the impact of his hollow-point bullets.

Thursday’s verdict, also broadcast live to audiences worldwide, is unlikely to be the end of the case.

There will be more courtroom arguments before a sentence is handed down and, most likely, an appeal to a higher court.

“I’m shocked,” said Martin Hood, a Johannesburg-based criminal lawyer. “I think she’s going to get quite a lot of criticism from the judiciary and the legal system.”

“The consensus among the legal community was that he is guilty of murder. This could really open the door to systematic abuse of our legal system by people who shoot their partners and claim self-defense.”

Whatever happens, Pistorius’s glittering sporting career is likely to be over.

Once a poster boy for disabled sport, he has been stripped of lucrative endorsement deals by global brands and has withdrawn from all competition.

AFP Photo/Kim Ludbrook

Defense Says Pistorius Was In A Vulnerable State When He Fired

Defense Says Pistorius Was In A Vulnerable State When He Fired

By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times

PRETORIA, South Africa — South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius should never have been charged with murder, but at most negligent killing, his lawyer Barry Roux told Pretoria’s High Court Friday.

Pistorius fatally shot his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, who locked herself in the toilet off his bathroom in February last year. Pistorius fired four expanding bullets, designed to cause maximum tissue damage, through the door, killing Steenkamp, but he claims he mistook her for a burglar and never intended to fire the gun or kill anyone.

The state case is that he shot her after an argument — but the prosecution argues that even if he foresaw firing four bullets into the cubicle would kill a burglar, he’s still guilty of murder.

Roux said Pistorius was argumentative as a witness — and should not have been — but said he was anxious because the prosecutor, Gerrie Nel, had originally accused him of putting on his artificial legs to fire the shots.

“Was he argumentative? Yes my lady. Should he have been? Absolutely not but he was apprehensive,” Roux said. He said there were “two Oscars”: The athlete’s powerful, confident exterior concealed a deeply anxious individual.

Roux conceded that Pistorius, who has pleaded guilty to charges of reckless use of a firearm, was negligent in handling a gun in a restaurant named Tashas, which went off in his hands, and suggested the Glock pistol may have been faulty.

Judge Thokozile Masipa chimed in that Pistorius asked to handle the gun.

Roux said the court had to decide whether Pistorius acted unconsciously, based on the athlete’s assertion he never intended to pull the trigger — or whether he acted reflexively but partly consciously.

He said the shot happened as the highly anxious Pistorius stood at the bathroom door, loaded gun in hand, knowing he might have to shoot.

“Now you’re standing at the door, you’re vulnerable, you have the effects of a slow burn over many years. You’re anxious. You’re trained as an athlete to react to sound. He stands now with his trigger ready to fire if necessary,” Roux said, bringing his hand down on his lectern with a dramatic bang.

He said some people would pull a trigger, startled by a sound, and others might not. Roux added that sports medicine doctor Wayne Derman, who argued that Pistorius pulled the trigger in response to being suddenly startled, was a highly credible witness.

Roux referred obliquely to South African cases where battered women successfully argued temporary insanity when, flooded with emotions, they snapped and killed their partners after years of abuse.

For Pistorius, there was a similar “slow burn” he said, which came from years knowing that he could never run away from a fight.

“You’re a little boy, you experience daily that you cannot run away. You do not have a flight response. Over time you get an exaggerated fight response. That’s the slow burn. That constant reminder, I do not have legs, I cannot run away. I am not the same,” Roux said.

He said this explained why Pistorius approached the noise he says he heard in the bathroom with a loaded gun, rather than retreating.

Pistorius testified he shot when he heard a noise from the toilet that made him think someone was coming out to attack him, although the door didn’t open.

“When he heard that sound in his vulnerable state,” asked Roux, “was that shot reflexive alone, or was it a reflexive shot combined with a cognitive process?”

If it was just a reflexive shot, it meant that Pistorius lacked criminal capacity at the time he fired, Roux said. (Temporary criminal incapacity is recognized by South African courts and means an accused was temporarily insane when he or she acted — but it is rarely successful.)

But Roux argued that if the court found Pistorius was consciously thinking when he fired, then it must examine the athlete’s thought process, as he sought to defend himself.

Summing up the defense case, Roux spent much of the day attempting to raise reasonable doubt about the prosecution’s contention that Pistorius killed Steenkamp after a row. He said the What’s App message that Steenkamp sent Pistorius saying he sometimes scared her, came amid many other loving messages.

Roux laid out a detailed timeline, designed to discredit the state’s case that the gun was fired at 3:17 a.m. The defense said the shots happened before 3:15 a.m. and that the sound of bangs at 3:17 a.m. was Pistorius breaking down the toilet door with a cricket bat to get Steenkamp. Neighbors reported hearing a woman screaming before 3:17 a.m.

Roux argued this was Pistorius screaming. The state’s main pathology witness said it would have been impossible for Steenkamp to scream after she was shot.

“Now the state must make the second sounds the gunshots, and ignore the first sounds and the cricket bat,” Roux said. He said the evidence of most of the witnesses supported Pistorius’ version, but spent some time attacking the credibility of anesthetist Dr. Johan Stipp, who testified he heard a woman screaming, intermingled with the sound of a man’s voice.

Roux said Stipp’s evidence “was not only unreliable but untruthful. He so desperately wanted to assist the state.”

AFP Photo/Alon Skuy

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Pistorius Breaks Silence With Tweets On Love And Pain

Pistorius Breaks Silence With Tweets On Love And Pain

Johannesburg (AFP) – South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius, on trial for killing his model girlfriend last year, has broken a long social networking silence with a series of tweets on love and pain.

The first tweet on Sunday, his first since February, quoted Psalm 34:18: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.”

Pistorius, 27, who has a religious background, is standing trial for killing Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine’s Day in 2013.

He has told the court in Pretoria that he shot Steenkamp four times through a locked bathroom door in his apartment after mistaking her for an intruder. Prosecutors say he deliberately killed her after an argument.

The tweets triggered an avalanche of reactions, with some wishing the athlete well while others question his sincerity and call him a “murderer”.

The double-amputee sprinter’s second tweet was a photo collage of himself with disabled children, including a young girl with artificial legs similar to his running on a track.

The accompanying text reads: “You have the ability to make a difference in someones life (sic). Sometimes it’s the simple things you say or do that can make someone feel better or inspire them.”

This was followed on Monday by a photograph of what appeared to be a section of text from Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl’s memoir entitled Man’s Search for Meaning.

“I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved,” part of the text read.

Next, he posted a tweet of a poster reading: “Lord, today I ask that you bathe those who live in pain in the river of your healing. Amen.”

Since his trial began on March 3, Pistorius has maintained silence outside the courtroom after his last tweet on February 14 which linked to a brief statement expressing his pain on the first anniversary of Steenkamp’s death.

His trial is set to resume on August 7 for closing arguments.

AFP Photo/Alon Skuy