Finally, the end of the trial appears to be in sight. Supposedly, the defense is going to wrap up its case in the next few days. Then will come closing arguments, deliberation, and hopefully, mercifully, a verdict will be rendered. This has gone on way too long.
The shooting itself happened on Feb. 14, 2013. The very next day, Pistorius was taken into custody and charges were filed. It would take over a full year before the trial finally started on March 3, 2014. It's understandable that it takes some time to gather and process evidence, analyze forensics, round up and depose any relevant witnesses, and for both sides to properly prepare their cases. But over a year?
And once the trial was finally underway, they adjourned it for a month so Pistorius could be examined by psychiatric experts, even though neither side disputed his sanity from the beginning? If it wasn't so pitiful, it would be funny.
This was/is hardly a case where some sort of massive conspiracy has to be sorted out layer by layer as to culpability. Actually, the entire premise of the Pistorius case is quite simple.
All agree that Pistorius fatally shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp through a bathroom door in his own home.
It doesn't matter whether he was on his "stumps" or wearing his prosthetic legs.
It doesn't matter what he did immediately following the gunshots.
It doesn't matter what neighbors a few hundred yards away thought they may have heard prior to the shooting.
Along that line, it doesn't matter whether Oscar and Reeva had been getting along fine or recently been arguing.
The prosecution will typically hypothesize various evil scenarios they can't prove, while the defense will trot out "character witnesses" saying what a nice guy their client is. None of it matters.
Seventeen months and counting after the actual shooting happened, only two things matter.
Did Oscar actually believe his life was in danger, mistaking his girlfriend for an intruder in crime-ridden South Africa? Or did he know it was Reeva behind that door all along? The answer to those questions is both obvious and baffling. Only Oscar knows for sure. One is free to believe his version of what was going through his mind at the time -- or one can believe prosecutor Gerrie Nel's theory. The first is a tragic accident, and the latter a deliberate cold-blooded murder. But regardless of the eventual verdict, up or down, doubts will forever remain amongst objective minds. What was he REALLY thinking when he pulled that trigger? We'll likely never know to any degree of certainty.
But in the end, it all boils down to just one thing that matters the most. A lone woman's opinion. Despite their fanciful rhetoric and, yes, smoke and mirrors, there is not a jury of Oscar's peers to be persuaded one way or the other by the prosecution and defense. In South Africa, there are no juries in such trials. Just a judge, who will eventually make the call. So all the world-wide media, especially the talking heads, pro and con, trying to plead this case to their hordes of knee-jerking armchair viewers matters not one whit.
A lady named Thokozile Masipa, the judge, will make the decision as to what will happen to Oscar Pistorius. If she determines it an accident, and Ocar is found innocent, he likely walks, no pun intended. If she determines him guilty of pre-meditated murder, he could be looking at a very long time in prison.
Either way, this has gone on way too long already. What little evidence there was isn't going to change. Either she believes Oscar or she doesn't.
So Masipa should quit screwing around and make the call, while we're still young. Well, sort of.....
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