Oscar Pistorius has served one year of jail time for a crime dealing with his ex girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Now the South African appeals court on Thursday did a reversal of what they felt was a major mistake in the court of law when it came to his trial. Due to the appeal, the reversal could send Pistorius back to the same jail cell that he has already spent a year in.
The Olympian, who is a 29 year old double-amputee, was found guilty last year of culpable homicide, meaning it is equivalent to manslaughter here in the states. The case deals with the killing of Steenkamp on Valentines Day back in 2013, who was a law graduate and model for Covergirl.
Now these new charges will not include house arrest, but straight back to the jail that was made just for him. The courts will take into consideration the time that has been spent, but he could still get up to 15 years. The prosecution would like only 10 years, but in the end it will be up to the courts to make the call at the time that he gets.
The five panels of judges came to the to the ruling together. Judge Eric Leach stated that the Paralympic Medalist should have known by firing his gun he would have killed whomever was behind the door the door of the bathroom. No matter how he looked at it, be it Steenkamp or an intruder.
Judge Leach overruled the culpable homicide and that the ruling there was a “fundamental error” with that call of judgement. Original Judge Thokozile Masipa who gave the original verdict did not apply the correct principles to the case of “dolus eventualis” to which is a legal term of the what happens to a suspect. That the evidence of the element of the case were “seemingly ignored by the trial court.”
It is being brought up that it was a failure to not adequately assess the ballistic evidence that was against Pistorius. That by firing into a bathroom stall how it could not have resulted in a person being hit by a bullet. “All the shots fired through the door would almost inevitably have struck the person behind it. There would be effectively no place to hide,” Judge Leach stated.
No matter how you looked at it, it is a matter of common sense that by carrying a potentially lethal act against humanity, he knew that he “gambled with life”. That’s when he fired his gun through the closed door said the judge.
The Judge even went so far as stating that this case surrounding the circumstances of Steenkamp’s death was a “a human tragedy of Shakespearean proportions.” He also stated that the Pistorius testimony was “unacceptable,” “vacillating” and “contradictory” in the court eyes of the law.
Judge Leach also included that if really the Blade Runner was really in fear of his life and his beliefs were so strong then why not fire a warning shot. That instead he shot not once but a total amount of four times. “The identity of victim is irrelevant to his guilt,” stated the judge.
