Oscar Pistorius will face a fresh sentencing hearing on Jun 13-17 2016 at the Pretoria Supreme Court. The former South African Paralympian is convicted of culpable homicide murder of Reeva Steenkamp, his girlfriend.
Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius is scheduled to be sentenced in June 2016 for the murder of model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on February 14, 2013 in his Pretoria home. The 29-year old is best known as the “Blade Runner” for his carbon-prosthetic legs he used to race.
Oscar Pistorius's defense team has appealed to have the murder conviction overturned. Pistorius's lawyer states that the court has discriminated against the athlete failing to take into account his disability, vulnerability and anxiety on the ruling.
On September 12, Oscar Pistorius was found guilty of culpable homicide for the shooting of her model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, after being cleared of murder charges. However, Steenkamp's camp was not happy with the decision. The Paralympian will be sentenced on October 13.
The prosecution and the defense are scheduled to give their closing arguments to the Pretoria high court on August 7, according to Sports World News. After hearing the arguments, Judge Thokozile Masipa will then rule either in favor or against the defendant. If Pistorius is found guilty of murdering his girlfriend, the Paralympian would be sent to prison for life.
Citing its in-house legal analyst Kelly Phelps, CNN said the judge decided to give each of the prosecution and the defense time for them to review the transcript of the case, of which is believed to be as much as 4,000 pages long and covering a case that ran from March 3 to July 8, which is a total of 39 days.
The Telegraph said that the dramatic footage was aired during the primetime slot, had shown the South African athlete stumbling forward awkwardly without his prosthetic legs and holding his arm out in front of him as if he was holding the gun that killed Steenkamp.
The reports were the product of a 30-day evaluation as ordered by the court in the past month following testimony by a psychiatrist, who said that Pistorius had an anxiety disorder. Pistorius' mental health was used as a reason of his fatal shooting of Reeva Steenkamp at his home in the wee hours of Valentine's Day last year, the Asociated Press reported.
The presiding judge at Oscar Pistorius' murder trial agreed and approved prosecutor Gerrie Nel's suggestion to subject the accused on a mental health evaluation for 30 days at a facility, Bloomberg said.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nels suggested that defendant Oscar Pistorius should be subject to mental health evaluations at a facility for 30 days after a psychiatrist claimed that he had been suffering anxiety disorder way before Reeva Steenkamp's death, Yahoo News said.
The high court in Pretoria heard additional testimonies from a a couple who were neighbors with Oscar Pistorius, who had told the court that they were awoken with the sound of a bang presumably from the athlete's home and did not hear any screams, Bloomberg said.
The defense team of Oscar Pistorius has presented two more witnesses who claimed in court that they saw the athlete in obvious distraught about his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp as he brought her down from his house following the fatal shooting on Valentine's Day last year, Bloomberg reported.
BBC reported that a statement issued by Oscar Pistorius' family has rejected claims by a journalist who said that the athlete received acting lessons from a coach prior to his testimony in his trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said in court today that Oscar Pistorius' expert witness Roger Dixon, a former police investigator, does not have the training nor the credentials for him to be considered an expert in his opinion about the evidence found in the scene where the athlete fatally shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
State prosecutor Gerrie Nel ended his arguments recently that Oscar Pistorius gave two types of defense claims in the hopes of masking the truth that the athlete fired at his late girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp following a nasty argument.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nels cross-examined Oscar Pistorius' testimony and argued that the athlete's version of events did not coincide with the latter's claim that the fatal shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was accidental.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nels showed defendant Oscar Pistorius a photo of a head wound of his late girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, whom he allegedly murdered by fatally shooting her in the head last year, Bloomberg said.
A couple of lawyers voiced their concerns to NBC News regarding Oscar Pistorius' excessive display of emotion during his two-day testimony in his murder trial.
The High Court of Pretoria had adjourned its hearing early on the account that defense witness and defendant Oscar Pistorius could not be able to continue with his testimony today following his loud, emotional breakdown, ABC News said.
During his testimony in the Reeva Steenkamp murder trial, Oscar Pistorius apologized to his late girlfriend's family and loved ones about the fatal shooting, Bloomberg said.
Presiding judge Thokozile Masipa has postponed the murder trial of Paralympian gold medalist Oscar Pistorius until April 7 as one of his assistants is sick, Bloomberg said.
