As the already lengthy Oscar Pistorius murder trial gets ready for two more weeks of speculation before the judge renders her verdict, the defendant's hopes for a complete acquittal have come into question based on his self-defense claims.
The Canadian-based magazine Maclean's magazine is reporting that a South African lawyer believes the circumstances surrounding Pistorius' shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp all but negate his self-defense argument.
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Pistorius is facing murder charges for fatally shooting the 29-year-old Steenkamp in the early morning hours of Valentine's Day in 2013.
According to Maclean's, William Booth, a lawyer based in Cape Town, spoke of Pistorius' self-defense claim in dubious terms.
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"While South Africa does have 'stand your ground' laws like those in the United States, Pistorius will likely be seen by the court as going well beyond his right to self-defense, says William Booth, a criminal lawyer based in Cape Town," Maclean's reported.
"Can one, in terms of the law, fire four shots into the door into a small area?" Booth said, according to Maclean's. "Is that not exceeding the bounds of self-defense?"
Judge Thokozile Masipa, who has presided over the trial, is scheduled to render a verdict on Sept. 11. Maclean's reported that Pistorius, the double-amputee sprinter who raced in the Olympics in 2012, could be found guilty of "culpable homicide."
A culpable homicide charge does not carry a set sentence, and it also is subject to the judge's discretion.
According to Maclean's the defense team also laid the groundwork for both an appeal a mistrial through its argument of evidence tampering and through an argument that the live broadcast of the trial denied Pistorius a chance at a fair trial - that according to Stephen Tuson, a criminal law adjunct professor at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
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