Oscar Pistorius, the South African double amputee Olympian, known as the Blade Runner, has been found not guilty of murder, by a South African Judge. The Judge rejected much of the prosecution evidence including that of neighbors who testified to hearing a woman screaming in the hours and minutes leading up to the shooting. The Judge believed testimony of a defense acoustics expert who testified that it would be impossible for the witnesses to distinguish the shouting of a woman from that of a man (Pistorius testified that it had been he that was shouting in response to learning that he had accidentally shot his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp).
The Judge found that the prosecution had not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Pistorius premeditated the shooting nor that he intended on shooting Steenkamp. Therefore, the Judge found Pistorius not guilty of murder. However, the Judge did find Pistorius guilty of culpable homicide. The Judge found that Pistorius was negligent in shooting into a small closed bathroom even if he did believe that there was an intruder. Instead, the Judge said that Pistorius could have called security or even run to the balcony and shouted out for help. Culpable homicide is similar to our crime of involuntary manslaughter where someone commits a negligent act which results in the killing of another.
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