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***UPDATE***

9/12:

Judge Thokozile Masipa found Oscar Pistorius guilty of culpable homicide in he killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, after being found “not guilty” of murder just yesterday. He was also convicted on one of three unrelated firearm charges. Culpable homicide, or negligent killing, with a firearm typically carries a five-year sentence in South America, reports AP.

9/11:

Oscar Pistorius has been found not guilty, but “negligent,” in the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day of last year. The South African Olympian was acquitted of murder charges this morning in Pretoria, South Africa.

It’s no question Pistorius killed his girlfriend. He admitted to shooting Steenkamp through the door of his bathroom after he assumed she was an intruder. However, presiding Judge Thokozile Masipa did not find sufficient evidence in the prosecution’s case to find him guilty of murder. Instead, Pistorius was found negligent for firing shots into the bathroom without knowing who was behind the door. “It’s clear that his conduct was negligent,” Judge Masipa said.

Pistorius’ neighbors claimed they heard a woman screaming before shots rang out. During the trial, text messages between Pistorius and Steenkamp portrayed Pistorius as hot-headed. “I’m scared of you sometimes and how you snap at me and how you will react to me,” Steenkamp wrote.

Oddly, Judge Masipa called Pistorius a “poor witness,” evasive, argumentative and “dishonest” for lying about intending to shoot anyone on the night in question. “[I] fired before I could think, before I even had a moment to comprehend what was happening,” Pistorius claimed. Judge Masipa noted ”This assertion is inconsistent with someone who says he shot without thinking.”

Pistorius’s defense team argued that Pistorius was taking antidepressants and had a sleep disorder, but found to have no mental disorders under a psychiatric assessment ordered by Judge Masipa. His legal team claimed that he was profoundly in love with Steenkamp and they called each other pet names like Baba and Angel.

The state could not prove that Pistorius acted in premeditated murder.

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