# Oscar Pistorius: Prosecutor appeals judgment, seeks longer jail term



## jchima (Nov 5, 2014)

Oscar Pistorius’s five-year prison term for killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, was “shockingly light, inappropriate and would not have been imposed by any reasonable court”, according to prosecutors who have filed for leave to appeal against the sentence and conviction.
Source: Oscar Pistorius Prosecutor appeals judgment seeks longer jail term - eReporter


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## waltky (Oct 15, 2015)

Mebbe he got out for good behavior?...

*Oscar Pistorius set for release from prison, but it could be brief*
_Oct 15, 2015: South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius is expected to walk out of prison next week after serving a year for killing his girlfriend - but he could soon be back behind bars._


> The star athlete was sentenced in October 2014 to five years in prison for culpable homicide - a charge equivalent to manslaughter - and is now eligible for release into house arrest after serving more than a sixth of his sentence.  Pistorius was initially due to be freed in August.  But intervention by the minister of justice led to a series of delays before the parole board announced Thursday that he would be released on October 20.  Prosecutors have filed an appeal against the culpable homicide verdict, arguing that he should have been convicted of murder over the killing of Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day 2013.  If they win their case, which is due to be begin in the Supreme Court on November 3, the 28-year-old could face at least 15 years in jail.
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> The athlete - known as "Blade Runner" for the prosthetic legs he wears on the track - won international fame after racing against able-bodied competitors in the 2012 London Olympics.  His trial was broadcast live around the world.  "I think the chances are pretty good that the appeals court will rule in favour of the state and overturn the verdict," said Ulrich Roux, a criminal lawyer in Johannesburg.  "He is faced with the unusual circumstance that he's released on house arrest and then the court could find him guilty of murder and he'll have to return to prison."  Pistorius does not dispute that he shot his model and law graduate girlfriend four times through a locked toilet door in his Pretoria home in the early hours of February 14, 2013.  But he said he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder. Prosecutors insist that he deliberately killed her after an argument.
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## waltky (Dec 3, 2015)

Manslaughter conviction overturned...

*Oscar Pistorius conviction: Explaining the law behind it*
_Dec 3,`15  -- The heart of the murder case against Oscar Pistorius has relied on a section of South African criminal law known by the Latin term of dolus eventualis. The Supremes Court of Appeal decided Thursday that a lower court's reading of that was faulty and overturned its manslaughter conviction against the athlete, convicting him of murder._


> MURDER VERSUS MANSLAUGHTER
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> It was never disputed that Pistorius killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day in 2013. What was uncertain, however, was whether he meant to do it.  Under South African law, a murder conviction hinges on the offender's intention to kill, according to South African criminal law expert Mannie Witz. Without intention, the killing is ruled as manslaughter, or culpable homicide as it is known in South Africa.  Pistorius' lawyers argued that he shot in self-defense, painting the picture of a scared amputee negligently firing at an unidentified intruder. The prosecution tried to depict Pistorius as an angry boyfriend who intentionally shot his model-girlfriend as she cowered behind a toilet door.  Judge Thokozile Masipa convicted him of culpable homicide, or negligent killing, but acquitted him of murder. In acquitting Pistorius of murder, Masipa ruled that Pistorius could not have anticipated that someone might die before he shot four times through a door into a toilet cubicle, killing Steenkamp.
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## Alex. (Dec 5, 2015)

I knew that bastard did not have a leg to stand on


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## waltky (Jun 23, 2016)

Oh please, don't throw me back in dat briar patch...




*Oscar Pistorius says the girlfriend he killed would want him to be free*
_June 23,`16 Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee Olympic track star who was convicted in the shooting death of his late girlfriend, believes she would not want him to be imprisoned for the crime._


> Pistorius, who is awaiting sentencing for killing Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013 in South Africa, was found guilty of murder in March. He had spent a year in jail on the conviction of the lesser crime of culpable homicide (manslaughter), but last December prosecutors successfully had that verdict overturned in favor of the more serious crime when an appeals court ruled the judge in the original trial had misapplied South African law. The minimum sentence for murder in South Africa is 15 years.  “I don’t want to go back to jail. I don’t want to have to waste my life sitting there,” Pistorius said in an interview with Britain’s ITV that will air Friday. “If I was afforded the opportunity of redemption, I would like to help the less fortunate, like I had in my past. I would like to believe that if Reeva could look down upon me that she would want me to live that life.”
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> Pistorius, who is currently free on bail, does not dispute that he shot Steenkamp but claims that he mistook her for a burglar when he fired four bullets through the door of the toilet in his bedroom. The Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that he was guilty of murder no matter who was behind the door when he fired the gun he kept under his bed. Pistorius claimed that he kept the weapon because he feared crime while sleeping with his leg prostheses off.  “Reeva was a fantastic person, but if [people believe] that I took her life intentionally, which has not been found, then it’s a very sad thing,” Pistorius said.
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## waltky (Aug 26, 2016)

Maximum, 15-year sentence sought but rejected...

*Prosecutors' bid for longer jail term for Pistorius rejected*
_Aug. 26, 2016  -- Prosecutors' request to appeal and increase the six-year prison sentence of Oscar Pistorius was denied Friday by South Africa's High Court._


> Prosecutors sought the maximum, 15-year sentence for Pistorius, 29, the double-amputee track star convicted in the 2013 shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Judge Thokozile Masipa handed down the six-year sentence last month, citing mitigating factors including Pistorius' remorse, his disability and his status as a first-time offender, and Friday dismissed the prosecutors' appeal.  "I'm not persuaded that there are reasonable prospects of success on appeal or that another court may find differently," she said in her ruling.
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> Pistorius was originally convicted of manslaughter, and served one year of his five-year prison term before he was moved to house arrest. In 2015, South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal, citing errors of law in the verdict, increased the charge to murder.  Despite the rejection of the appeal Friday, prosecutors can still petition the Supreme Court of Appeal, and if necessary, the country's Constitutional Court.
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> Prosecutors' bid for longer jail term for Pistorius rejected


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## waltky (Dec 12, 2017)

Oscar havin' a hard time of it in prison...




*Oscar Pistorius hurt in prison fight in South Africa*
_12 Dec.`17 - Former South African athlete Oscar Pistorius has been hurt in a prison brawl, less than two weeks after his sentence for the killing of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was more than doubled._


> The disgraced Paralympian was allegedly involved in a fight over the use of a public phone, a prison department spokesman told the BBC.  Pistorius, jailed for 13 years and five months, sustained a bruise, he added.  No other serious injuries were reported, the spokesman said.  "It is alleged that he was involved in an altercation with another inmate over the use of a public phone in the special care unit where both offenders are detained at Attridgeville Correctional Centre," the spokesman, Singabakho Nxumalo, added.
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