Oscar Pistorius Update: Sentenced to 5 Years for Killing Reeva Steenkamp BUT might serve only 10 months

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This is an update to my original article, “Oscar Pistorius, Ray Rice and the World Of Domestic Violence,” which was published on TheBlot Magazine
LATEST NEWS FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS:
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Oscar Pistorius was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison for killing Reeva Steenkamp by a South African judge who cited the “gross negligence” the runner showed when he shot his girlfriend multiple times through a toilet cubicle door in his home.
However, legal experts said the section of law Judge Thokozile Masipa quoted when she announced the double-amputee Olympic athlete’s sentence provides for a maximum of five years in prison and Pistorius could be released after 10 months in jail to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.
Masipa also sentenced Pistorius to three years in prison for unlawfully firing a gun in a restaurant in a separate incident weeks before Steenkamp’s 2013 shooting death. She ordered that sentence to be wholly suspended.
Masipa delivered her ruling after reviewing prosecution arguments for a tough sentence as well as the defense case for a more lenient punishment for Pistorius.
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For more of the back story here is an excerpt from my original article for TheBlot Magazine:

This morning in South Africa, after the six-month trial of Oscar Pistorius, Judge Thokozile Masipa found the defendant guilty of culpable homicide in the shooting death of his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp. Yesterday, we heard the verdict that he was found not guilty of murder. Today, the judge let the killer leave the court on bail in the custody of his uncle.

This is wrong on so many levels.

Judge Masipa even said the paralympic gold medalist, nicknamed Blade Runner, had not acted reasonably. She said, “I am of the view that the accused acted too hastily and used excessive force.”

Ya think?

His defense has always been that he thought he was shooting an intruder. The judge said instead of picking up a gun, “all the accused had to do was pick up the phone and ring security, or run to the balcony and call for help.” She also called him “a bad witness who was more worried about the impact his answers might cause than the answers themselves.” But she also said that despite his lack of truthfulness, that was not a clear indicator of guilt. C’mon.

So, just like O.J. Simpson, Pistorius seems to be shimmying through a murder conviction based on legal technicalities. I wonder what kind of sentence Pistorius will get for culpable homicide, which is equivalent to manslaughter in the U.S. We won’t know until the sentencing hearing on Oct. 13. Until then, he’s free to go wreak havoc. This is a man with many whoopsies: He “mistakenly” shot a gun in a crowded restaurant, a witness said he saw an enraged Pistorius fire a gun through a car’s sunroof and another charge was possession of illegal ammunition.

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