On September 11, the murder trial of Paralympic athlete, Oscar Pistorius, will come to an end as the judge reads his verdict.
An article by Breathecast.com says that the 27-year-old South African medalist already lost a lot of money and was forced to sell his house worth $485,000 to afford lawyer fees and other litigation expenses. Judge Thokoile Masipa of the South African court will consider all the evidence and testimonies given to reach a final verdict on the matter.
The apartheid government of the country removed trial by jury over 50 years ago, according to Reuters.com, so only Judge Masipa will ultimately decide the fate of Pistorius.
The possible verdicts will range from culpable homicide to premeditated murder, Reuters explained. Should he be found guilty of the more serious charge, he will have to serve a minimum of 25 years in prison. A lesser charge would have a maximum sentence of 15 years. There is also the possibility of Pistorius being acquitted of the charge on the ground that he acted in self-defense or "putative private defense".
Riaan Louw, an advocate in Johannesburg told the news agency, "This case is about the credibility of Oscar PistoriusIf he's not a credible witness and the judge does not accept his testimony, he's going to be convicted on either murder or culpable homicide."
During the course of the trial proceedings, Pistorius stayed firm in his defense that he did not shoot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp intentionally, Reuters observed. Pistorius was apologetic during the entire ordeal and Reeva's mother, June Steenkamp, said that she already forgave the Paralympic athlete but added that proper justice must be served for her daughter.
Although Barry Roux, the defense attorney of Pistorius reportedly did a good job in his closing arguments, Prosecutor Gerrie Nel attacked the credibility of the athlete as a witness. Nel said that the crime scene was not properly handled by the investigating police and that Pistorius made "a snowball of lies" to get away from a murder conviction.
In a report by The Week, Pistorius came up with two defenses. The first is "putative self-defense" while the second is "involuntary action". Involuntary action puts Pistorius in a state of being incapable to manage his behavior properly. Roux said in his closing speech that Pistorius was using both defenses, which according to the prosecutor, was "mutually exclusive" and "mutually destructive".
After the closing remarks, Judge Masipa has to consider all the related matters to come up with a decision after one month.