Oscar Pistorius may yet be convicted of murder.
BBC.com reported Wednesday that Judge Thokozile Masipa has ruled that prosecutors can appeal the acquittal she gave Pistorius on murder charges in the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
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Masipa instead sentenced the double-amputee Olympic sprinter to five years in prison on a charge of culpable homicide. Pistorius shot Steenkamp four times through the bathroom door in the early morning hours on Valentine's Day, 2013.
He testified that he thought she was an intruder that had broken into their Pretoria, South Africa home.
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Masipa also ruled that the prosecution cannot appeal the five-year sentence that Pistorius is serving. Under his current sentence, he must spend 10 month in prison but can serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.
The case now will go to South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeals, BBC.com reported. The Independent added that a panel of five new judges now will hear the case.
Masipa agreed with state prosecutor Gerrie Nel that the law she applied as the basis of her culpable homicide ruling could be subject to a different interpretation, according to the Independent.
"I cannot say ... that the prospect of success at the supreme court of appeal is remote," Masipa ruled at the High Court in Pretoria, the Independent reported. "The application, therefore, in respect of count one is decided in favor of the applicant."
Masipa's ruling means that Pistorius still could be convicted of second-degree murder if the five judges believe that to be the case, the Independent reported. Typically, cases wait more than a year to appear before the Supreme Court.
By that time, Pistorius should be under house arrest.
The Independent also reported that the appeals case will hinge on whether Pistorius understood that his actions would kill that person before he fired his weapon into the bathroom door. Under Masipa's original ruling, she believed that while he should have foreseen the consequences of his actions, he didn't.
The Supreme Court still could come to that conclusion and convict Pistorius of second-degree murder.
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