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Oscar Pistorius: Prosecutors To Appeal Athlete’s 5-Year Manslaughter Sentence

It seems the matter of Oscar Pistorius and the fatal shooting of former girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp is far from settled. On Monday the prosecution said that it would take its appeal before a court in P...
Oscar Pistorius: Prosecutors To Appeal Athlete’s 5-Year Manslaughter Sentence
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  • It seems the matter of Oscar Pistorius and the fatal shooting of former girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp is far from settled.

    On Monday the prosecution said that it would take its appeal before a court in Pretoria, South Africa on December 9.

    The defense attorney for 27-year-old Pistorius said that it’s not yet known if the former athlete will attend the hearing.

    Oscar Pistorius is currently residing in Kgosi Mampuru II, a prison in Pretoria, after being found guilty of culpable homicide in the death of Steenkamp. The charge is the equivalent of a manslaughter conviction in the United States.

    Following his conviction, Judge Thokozile Masipa sentenced Oscar Pistorius to a term of five years in jail.

    The members of the prosecution did state prior to sentencing that there was a chance that the original conviction would be appealed.

    When giving a reason for the move to appeal Pistorius’s sentence, prosecutors said that Oscar Pistorius should have been convicted of murdering Reeva Steenkamp.

    There was also some protest over the idea that Pistorius could shoot his girlfriend four times and be out of jail after serving less than a year, a punishment that prosecutors found to be “shockingly light”.

    If the appeal is successful and the murder conviction replaces the manslaughter conviction, then the picture will become considerably grim for Oscar Pistorius.

    Instead of being out of jail in a matter of months, the Paralympian would be staring down a minimum of 15 years in prison.

    Before this can happen, the prosecution must get permission from Masipa herself in order to move forward to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

    Pistorius’s defense team is planning to oppose the appeal, especially since there’s a strong chance a murder conviction will happen if the prosecution gets its case past Masipa.

    Do you think prosecutors were right to appeal the five-year sentence or should the original ruling stand?

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