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Prosecutors Appeal Pistorius’ Five-Year Sentence For Killing Girlfriend

Prosecutors Appeal Pistorius’ Five-Year Sentence For Killing Girlfriend

By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority will appeal the controversial murder acquittal of Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius and his five-year sentence for the lesser crime of culpable homicide.
The decision to appeal was announced Monday.

In South Africa, the prosecution can appeal a judgment only if an error has been made in law. A 1982 judgment, S v. Seekoei, appears to further limit the state’s right to appeal judgments, confining appeals to cases in which there is an acquittal.

Pistorius was sentenced to five years in jail for culpable homicide (negligent killing, similar to manslaughter in the U.S. justice system) for the fatal shooting last year of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Under South African law, he could be out of prison in 10 months, a sentence many regard as lenient.

A spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority, Nathi Mncube, said the appeal was based on questions of law and the NPA’s argument would become clear once it filed papers seeking leave to appeal.

Mncube said prosecutors in the Pistorius case have been busy studying the judgment and consulting legal experts on the question of an appeal.

“The prosecutors are now preparing the necessary papers in order to be able to file within the next few days,” Mncube said.

James Grant, a law professor at the University of Witwatersrand, was among those saying that Masipa’s judgment was not well reasoned and would not likely stand up to scrutiny in a higher court.

Grant posted on Twitter last week that he was “strongly in favor” of an appeal. He said lead prosecutor Gerrie Nel consulted him on whether to appeal, and he advised him to do so.

“I have advised that he should appeal & agreed to assist,” Grant wrote.

Grant has specifically criticized the judge over her interpretation of a South African legal principle that murder includes a situation in which a person foresees that his or her actions will kill, but goes ahead anyway. In the Pistorius case, there was intense argument around the question of whether the athlete must have foreseen that shooting four expanding bullets into a small toilet cubicle would kill anyone inside, regardless of whether this was an intruder or his girlfriend.

AFP Photo/Alexander Joe

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Pistorius Starts Five-Year Jail Term For Killing Girlfriend

Pistorius Starts Five-Year Jail Term For Killing Girlfriend

Pretoria — South African star athlete Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday for killing his girlfriend, in the climax to his sensational trial watched around the world.

The Paralympian sprinter, known as the “Blade Runner”, was led from the dock down to the cells to start his sentence for shooting model Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013.

“Count one, culpable homicide: the sentence imposed is five years,” Judge Thokozile Masipa told Pistorius in the Pretoria courtroom.

It was a stunning fall from grace for the 27-year-old who made history by becoming the first double amputee Paralympian to compete against able-bodied athletes at the 2012 London Olympics, inspiring millions.

But during his trial, the prosecution painted a darker picture of the sports star, presenting a dangerously volatile young man with a penchant for guns, beautiful women and fast cars.

Lawyers said however that Pistorius will probably not serve the full term for the offense of culpable homicide, equivalent to manslaughter, and perhaps as little as 10 months.

Pistorius, who had wept and vomited at times during his trial, stood stock-still as he was sentenced, veins bulging in his forehead and his jaw muscles clenched.

He was also sentenced to three years, suspended for five years, for accidentally firing a pistol under a table at a restaurant in Johannesburg in January 2013.

Pistorius had testified that he shot Steenkamp, 29, four times through a locked bathroom door at his upmarket Pretoria home after he mistakenly believed she was an intruder.

Prosecutors had argued that he murdered her in a fit of rage after an argument.

– Verdict hotly debated –

As the court adjourned, Pistorius turned to look at the public gallery, then briefly took the hands of his family members before being led by police to the cells.

Amid a media frenzy, he was later taken to a police van which was escorted to Pretoria’s Kgosi Mampuru prison.

“He is already accommodated at Kgosi Mmapuru, in Pretoria,” said correctional services spokesman Manelisi Wolela.

Steenkamp’s family welcomed the sentence, the dramatic end to a trial televised globally that began in March but was repeatedly adjourned.

Steenkamp’s ailing father Barry said he was “very glad” the trial was over and a lawyer for the family said the sentence was “welcome”.

Oscar Pistorius’s uncle said the sprinter’s family accepted the court’s judgement.

“Oscar will embrace this opportunity to pay back to society,” Arnold Pistorius said.

The verdict and the sentence have been hotly debated in South Africa, with many expressing the opinion that Pistorius literally got away with murder.

The Steenkamps’ lawyer Dup de Bruyn told AFP that the sentence will likely be served as two years in prison and three years under house arrest.

A member of Pistorius’s legal team, Roxanne Adams, said he would likely serve a sixth of the five-year term — 10 months — before being transferred to house arrest.

– No decision on appeals –

Neither side indicated immediately whether they would appeal against either the September verdict or Tuesday’s sentence.

State prosecution spokesman Nathi Mncube said they had been disappointed with the conviction for culpable homicide rather than murder.

But he added: “We have not made up our minds whether we are going to appeal or not.”

Adams said the defense had “no comment” on whether it will appeal.

The International Paralympic Committee said Pistorius — who won sprint gold medals at three Games — would not be allowed to compete in the next event in 2016 even if he was released early.

Masipa said she wanted to find a balance between retribution, deterrence and rehabilitation, dismissing defense claims that the disabled athlete would face particular suffering in prison.

“It would be a sad day for this country if an impression were to be created that there was one law for the poor and disadvantaged and another for the rich and famous,” said Masipa.

She also weighed the ability of Pistorius to cope with incarceration given his physical disability.

“Yes the accused is vulnerable, but he also has excellent coping skills,” she said.

Discussing the gravity of Pistorius’s crime, the judge said he had been guilty of “gross negligence”.

“Using a lethal weapon, a loaded firearm, the accused fired not one, but four shots into the door,” said Masipa.

“The toilet was a small cubicle and there was no room for escape for the person behind the door,” she said.

The prosecution had called for 10 years in jail for the athlete, while the defense pleaded for house arrest and community service.

But Masipa said a community service order “would not be appropriate”.

With the conviction and sentence, Pistorius has lost his glittering sports career, lucrative contracts and — above all — his hero status, tarnished forever.

AFP Photo/Kim Ludbrook

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Man Gets 6 Months For Stealing Part Of Paul Walker’s Crashed Porsche

Man Gets 6 Months For Stealing Part Of Paul Walker’s Crashed Porsche

By Caitlin Owens, Los Angeles Times

An 18-year-old man was sentenced Thursday to six months in jail for stealing part of the Porsche Carrera GT that Paul Walker was riding in when he died in a fiery crash last year in Santa Clarita, Calif., authorities said.

The man, Jameson Brooks Witty, was sentenced after pleading no contest to misdemeanor charges, including grand theft, earlier this month. He also received three years of probation, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Witty and an accomplice, 26-year-old Anthony Edward Janow, stole the roof panel from a tow truck carrying the destroyed Porsche away from the crash site on the night of Nov. 30, despite a sheriff’s deputy telling them they couldn’t take any vehicle parts, authorities said.

Janow pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of destroying evidence and resisting or delaying a police officer, as well as a felony charge of grand theft. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 23 and expected to also receive six months’ jail time, according to the district attorney’s office.

On Instagram, @jamesonwitty first posted a photo of what the user claimed to be a piece of the Porsche from the crash. The user later posted an apology message, saying he took the roof to create a memorial out of it.

“Paul was a childhood idol to me and many. At the time I was not thinking about the consequences it could have, I never wanted it to be like this I wasn’t going to sell the piece to make a profit,” the message reads . “Nobody in this world is perfect, we all make mistakes. Some bigger than others.”

Walker, 40, died Nov. 30 from traumatic injuries and burns after the Porsche crashed into a light pole and burst into flames.

Roger Rodas, 38, Walker’s financial adviser and friend, was behind the wheel of the car when it crashed and was also killed.

The sports car was traveling at more than 90 mph, according to a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department report.

Photo via WikiCommons

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China Executes 13 For Terrorism-Related Crimes; More Sentenced

China Executes 13 For Terrorism-Related Crimes; More Sentenced

By Julie Makinen, Los Angeles Times

SHANGHAI — China on Monday said it had executed 13 people for terrorism-related crimes and sentenced three more to death, stepping up a law enforcement and public relations campaign against a rising tide of violence.

Those who were put to death had been found guilty of crimes including homicide, arson, making explosives and organizing, leading and participating in a terrorist group, according to a report late Monday by the state-run New China News Agency. All their cases were heard by courts in the restive northwestern province of Xinjiang, in the cities of Aksu, Turpan and Hotan.

In a separate report, the news agency said three people had been sentenced to death and five others to prison in connection with a deadly terrorist attack in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in October. Two pedestrians were killed and about 40 people were injured in the incident, in which a vehicle drove through a crowd of tourists and then burst into flames in front of the Forbidden City in the center of the Chinese capital.

Authorities have blamed the Tiananmen attack on separatists from Xinjiang. The region in the far west is the heartland of China’s ethnic Uighur minority, who complain of discrimination and the growing influx of the majority ethnic Han into their cities and towns.

In the wake of a string of terrorist attacks in Xinjiang and far outside the region, Chinese authorities launched a highly visible counterterrorism campaign nationwide in recent weeks.

Beat cops in Shanghai and other cities have been armed, provincial anti-terrorism squads have been formed, and troops in fatigues wielding automatic weapons have been posted around the capital. Thousands of neighborhood-watch-type volunteers have been recruited to patrol in Beijing and even been offered insurance in the event they are injured on the job.

In Xinjiang, authorities have offered rewards to the public for tips on extremist activity and recently held a mass sentencing in a stadium for 55 people convicted of violent crimes. Police later distributed videos of the event, attended by 7,000 people, to the media.

President Xi Jinping has ordered troops in Xinjiang to deliver a “crushing blow” to separatist and extremist forces. In April, he undertook a multi-day inspection tour of Xinjiang, which he called the “front line” in the battle against terrorism. Hours after he left, a bomb exploded at a train station in Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital, killing several people.

The violence has not abated. On May 22, 43 people died at a market in Urumqi when attackers tossed bombs out of car windows. More than 90 people were injured in the attack.

Authorities have been alarmed by the growing lethality and sophistication of the attacks and a noticeable shift in targets; whereas extremists previously had been directing their attacks primarily at government facilities in Xinjiang, such as police stations, the assaults in recent months have focused on “soft” targets including train stations and markets.

Although authorities were once quick to move terrorist incidents off the front pages — a deadly attack in March at a train station in the southern province of Yunnan was declared “solved” within a few days and few further details were forthcoming about the perpetrators — officials now seem to be adopting a more visible response to the situation.

On Monday, state-run media reported that more than 60 suspects had been arrested in Xinjiang in the last three weeks since the government began asking the public for tips on terrorism-related activities. The 60 are suspected of making 160 “blast devices,” and police said they had seized more than 80 pounds of explosives.

©afp.com