Oscar Pistorius Trial: Judge Delivers Verdicts
Oscar Pistorius is learning his fate after 41 days of evidence in a murder trial which has gripped South Africa and the world.Alex Crawford explains the outcomes Pistorius could expect to face.
新闻背景：
“刀锋战士”奥斯卡·皮斯托瑞斯涉嫌于2013年2月14日情人节当天，枪杀女友里瓦·斯滕坎普。斯滕坎普的死亡惨剧让全球媒体，也让南非认识到，这颗在伦敦残奥会之后冉冉升起的体育新星是何等耀眼和备受瞩目。枪击案的发生让南非和全世界都为之震惊。因“刀锋战士”此前的故事感动了无数人，这是一个用希望和决心战胜逆境的经典故事，然而这一切都因为枪杀女友案戛然而止。案件一出，立刻引发激烈的反响，且掺杂着强烈的主观情绪。南非人民对“刀锋战士”这样一位英雄人物似乎有着很深的情感，也不可避免地对他误入歧途的行为唏嘘不已。
本次庭审只宣判“刀锋战士”是否有罪以及罪名，不会宣布量刑，这需要再次庭审才能决定。“刀锋战士”和检方都可能对于宣判提出上诉。如果法官裁定皮斯托瑞斯谋杀罪有罪，他将面临无期徒刑并至少服刑25年；如果裁定他刑事杀人罪，他将面对长期监禁。
There are two main questions that judge Masipa needs to answer about what happened in Oscar Pistorius's house that Valentine's Day morning. The first one is whether he intended to kill when he ran down this corridor and into the bathroom and fired four shots through the toilet door. If she decides that he did intend to kill, then she finds him guilty of murder and she has to decide whether that murder was premeditated and planned when he ran down that corridor in here. If she believes it was planned, then he faces a lifetime
in prison. If she decides it was an unplanned murder, then he still faces a minimum of 15 years in jail. If she's convinced that he did not intend to kill as he ran down the corridor and into the bathroom, then she must find him not guilty of murder. Then the thing that she has to decide is whether his actions were the lawful actions of a reasonable man.
Now Oscar Pistorius relied on just one defense which was that of self-defense and the judge must rule, under South Africa law, whether he complies with the test of self-defense.
And in the law in this country, the test of self-defense is whether there was a clear, imminent and immediate danger facing him. The judge must also decide as well whether the athlete had any other options open to him. For instance, did he really need to fire four times through the toilet door? Or could he have, for instance, just fired one - a warning shot? If the judge decides he did act reasonably, then he is not guilty and Oscar Pistorius will walk out a free man. But if the judge decides that his defense of self-defense does not hold up in the eyes of the South African law, then she must convict him as culpable homicide and he faces up to 15 years in jail, or the judge has the discretion to impose something other than a jail sentence and she could opt for, for instance, house arrest or put the athlete under probation. These are the main questions that the judge has to answer.