Oscar Pistorius a.k.a. the South African “blade runner,” choice of musical selection (and rock-solid legal representation) has allowed him into the clear of being a convicted murdered.
Reports The New York Times:
In three hours of detailed appraisal of a trial that has transfixed many around the world and that has been compared to the O. J. Simpson case in the United States, Judge Masipa cleared Mr. Pistorius of two charges — premeditated murder, which carries a minimum mandatory term of 25 years, and a lesser charge of homicide known simply as “murder.”
The judge presiding over the trial of Oscar Pistorius, the Paralympic athlete, cleared him of the two most serious murder charges against him on Thursday, almost certainly sparing him a long prison sentence.
“We’ll have to stop here and resume tomorrow morning,” the judge, Thokozile Matilda Masipa, said less than half an hour after the session had resumed after a lunch break. She did not explain the adjournment.
Since his trial opened in March, Mr. Pistorius, 27, a double amputee who has also challenged able-bodied runners, has faced accusations that he deliberately took the life of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, 29, when he fired into a locked bathroom door at his villa in Pretoria, the South African capital, on Feb. 14, 2013. Mr. Pistorius has insisted that he killed Ms. Steenkamp, who was in the bathroom, by mistake, believing that an intruder had entered his home.
Pistorius still has the possibility of being charged with a lesser charge of culpable homicide, which is the equivalent of involuntary manslaughter in the United States.
He also faces three counts relating to firearms offenses.
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Photo: YouTube/Sky News
