Judge Thokozile Masipa has accumulated many detractors. Finally, she has an important ally.
Gospelherald.com, gathering information from a video posted on eNews Channel Africa, reported that South Africa Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng came to the defense of the embattled Masipa, who faced widespread criticism and even death threats after clearing double-amputee Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius of murder charges in the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in September.
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Masipa instead delivered a culpable homicide charge against the 'Blade Runner," - the equivalent of manslaughter - and sentenced him to five years in prison. Under South African law, Pistorius would have been eligible for house arrest after serving one-sixth of his sentence, or 10 months.
Mogoeng expressed his disappointment in such the reaction against Masipa's ruling.
"I think it was vicious," Mogoeng said. "I think judges must be criticized. We expect them to be critical of us, but I think there is just a line that we shouldn't cross. We shouldn't be personal."
Because the trial involved an international star athlete and the trial had received exhaustive media coverage, Mogoeng said Masipa's ruling was bound to strike a nerve with people, most notably in South Africa, which he said "expect a particular outcome and nothing else."
"But even when a proper analysis of the facts and the law leads a magistrate or a judge to a conclusion that is different to that which we expected, then we begin to suspect foul play," Mogoeng said. "We begin to suspect that there is something wrong with the judge."
If nothing else, Masipa demonstrated uncommon wisdom and put the law ahead of her own decision-making when she granted prosecutors the right to appeal her verdict with the South Africa Court of Appeals.
She said that it was reasonable that her interpretation of whether Oscar Pistorius should have known that firing into a bathroom door might kill the person on the other side could be subject to a different conclusion from a different judge.
Pistorius now awaits an appeal trial, in which the prosecution again will aim to get a murder charge against him. No timetable has been set publicly for when that trial will take place.
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