Oscar Pistorius kills his GF ?

[Senator Clay Davis]

This is where his act is going to doom him. This morning for instance, the prosecutor basically asks him 8 different times if he shot Reeva...his response? "I made a mistake". Dude, there's no question you shot her. To not even be able to admit to shooting her, which isn't even up for debate here, is just pathetic. This is one of the most over the top displays ever. I'm not sure anyone has ever felt more sorry for themselves than Oscar does now. Hopefully the judge isn't swayed.

[albertGQ]

There's no jury right?

[CaptainCrunch]

Judge only

[Senator Clay Davis]

Correct, judge will decide on the verdict.

[darklord700]

The defense manages to make this case into a debate of Oscar's state of mind at that time. They basically say that Oscar was in a fugue state at the time of shooting and the firearm discharge was accidental.

Problem is with Oscar's background with guns and his familiarity with handling hand guns, it is not reasonable to employ the fugue state argument. It's like convincing people that a SEAL team member would fire 4 shots all in his fugue state. Maybe I would buy that a kid or a woman that could fire 4 shots but not a person who's very experienced with handguns.

Also Oscar didn't give other corrobarating evidence to convince people what could've made him think that he was in such grave danger that warranted him firing 4 shots. There wasn't any loud sound, bang, or people screaming, in fact it was dead silent pretty much the entire time.

Even if we give Oscar the benefit of doubts, the loud bang from firing the 1st and most definately the 2nd shot would have waken anybody up from their alledged fugue state.
But I cannot buy that the 3rd and 4th shots were not fired with the intent to kill.

It would have been more belivable to me if Oscar discarded the fugue state defense and said he did intend to kill whom he believed was the intruder. But that likely won't get him off scot free and will net him the lesser manslaugther charge. If Ocar losses, it will be that he is too greedy.

[darklord700]

This just came to mind that if Oscar does walk from the killing of Reeva, what's stopping anyone in any household killing their loved one in similar fashion and then claim the Oscar defense? If such defense works in a gated upscale community that Oscar lives in, it would only work better in a ghetto where the probability of crime happening is even higher.

If a physically weak individual sees a man with a machete coming to his general direction, could he justifiably shoot that man because he is afraid and feels vulnerable? That's basically Oscar's defense and Oscar didn't even see anything the whole time, all he got was a hunch that someone in that bathroom stall was going to hurt him. So he fired 4 shots into the stall clearly with the intent to kill whether that person was Reeva or not. It wont' meet the justifiable defense criteria in North America.

[Resolute 14]

Oh, the answer to that question is easy: money. If you have it, you can get off. If you don't, you won't.

[Senator Clay Davis]

He clearly didn't do very well in his lessons...

In an open letter to Pistorius posted on her blog, prominent South African journalist Jani Allan accused Pistorius of taking acting lessons from a “close friend” of Allan’s to prepare for his testimony in court.

“I have it from a reliable source that you are taking acting lessons for your days in court,” Allan wrote. “Your coach has an impossible task.”

http://nesn.com/2014/04/report-oscar...-murder-trial/

[CaptainCrunch]

Man the guy just sounds like a psychopath

[darklord700]

Most people think his on court Thesipian performance was so poor that it must have been acting.

[Senator Clay Davis]

What a psycho...

Oscar Pistorius has been accused of trying to intimidate a friend of Reeva Steenkamp by turning to her in court and asking: "How can you sleep at night?"

The South African Paralympian who is on trial for Steenkamp's murder, flatly denied speaking to Kim Myers but witnesses, including a police officer, claimed they heard Pistorius as he left the dock during an adjournment. A complaint was lodged with South Africa's national prosecuting authority.

Ian Levitt, a lawyer, said: "My client Kim Myers was approached by Oscar Pistorius in court today and, in a very sinister tone, was asked: 'How can you sleep at night?' My client views this unwelcome approach as extremely disturbing and I have been in communication with the national prosecuting authorities as well as the investigating officer. All other parties have been informed. My client will remain focused on the trial and will continue to attend court in support of Reeva."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...eenkamp-friend

[CaptainCrunch]

I think he's a monster

[transplant99]

He has been found....not guilty of murder. ..still facing other counts.

[habernac]

did they have OJ's prosecution? Holy ####....

[transplant99]

Yeah...This really seems like a poor prosecution at best and something more nefarious at worst.

[devo22]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...eeva-steenkamp

The Olympic and Paralympic athlete slumped forward in the dock and sobbed quietly as the judge, Thokozile Masipa, ruled on Thursday that the state had failed to prove he was guilty of murder or premeditated murder, and that the evidence was "purely circumstantial". He could not have foreseen killing whoever was behind the toilet door at his home in Pretoria, she said.

... yeah, right.

[pseudoreality]

Originally Posted by transplant99

He has been found....not guilty of murder. ..still facing other counts.

He better be found guilty of something, because its not okay to shoot at a noise behind a door.

[devo22]

adjourned for the day, for whatever reason.

A confusing end to the day – Judge Masipa seemed to be moving towards a verdict on the charge of culpable homicide but abruptly broke off to adjourn for the day. The court will be back on Friday morning, presumably to hear her decision on that charge right away.

Her latest comments certainly seemed to indicate she was moving in the direction of a guilty verdict on culpable homicide (manslaughter): she said Pistorius had “acted too hastily”, “used excessive force”, was “clearly” negligent, and could have called for help instead of approaching the bathroom with a loaded firearm.

But we will not now find out until Friday.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/liv...ict-trial-live

[Senator Clay Davis]

Predictable end but still utterly pathetic that the judge essentially fell for his absurdly over the top emotional displays. So I guess we can expect more criminals in the future to take acting lessons to play up crazy emotions to get away with murder. Poor Reeva.

[darklord700]

This is a difficult case to try. My feeling is that the judge fixated on the term pre-meditation. No doubt that when Oscar aimed the gun at the bathroom door, he wanted to kill. But did he kill out of fits of rage or not? I think the judge thought he killed out of fits of rage and no pre-meditation was proved. Therefore no 1st degree murder verdict.