No longer pegged as a committer of manslaughter, “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius was found guilty of murder by a South African appeals court. Pistorius has been under house arrest since last year on the manslaughter charge. That conviction was overturned and replaced with the murder rap, which means a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison for Pistorius. In 2013, Pistorius — the feel-good story of the 2012 Olympics when he ran competitively as a double amputee — shocked the world when he shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his home. Pistorius has claimed he thought she was an intruder.
Judge Eric Leach said in the new verdict: “I have no doubt that in firing the fatal shots the accused must have foreseen, and therefore did foresee, that whoever was behind the toilet door might die, but reconciled himself to that event occurring and gambled with that person’s life.” Pistorius shot Steenkamp through a locked bathroom door.
