CAPE TOWN, South Africa // Oscar Pistorius’ case will be heard by South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal on November 3, when prosecutors will ask a panel of five judges to reject his trial verdict and convict the double-amputee athlete of murder for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Body: The Supreme Court announced the date on Tuesday. The court said the appeal by prosecutors against Pistorius’ acquittal for murder will be heard by a panel headed by the president of the Supreme Court. Two of the five judges are women.
Pistorius was last year found guilty of a lesser charge of manslaughter for shooting Steenkamp through a toilet door in his home in 2013. He testified he mistook her for a dangerous intruder.
Prosecutors accused Pistorius of killing Steenkamp intentionally after a fight and say Judge Thokozile Masipa made errors at the murder trial last year. They want the Supreme Court to re-examine her verdict.
The Supreme Court could overrule Masipa and find the Olympian guilty of murder, order a new trial, or decide Masipa was correct. A murder conviction in South Africa carries a minimum sentence of 15 years in jail. The country no longer has the death penalty.
Pistorius was sentenced by Masipa to five years in prison for culpable homicide – an unintentional but still unlawful killing equivalent to manslaughter. He is currently in jail in Pretoria waiting for a parole review board to decide if he should be released early to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.
A second hearing to decide if he should be released was postponed last week with no date given for when it will take place.
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