I am saddened that a young man would arbitrate between the petty foibles of your antecedents.
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Oscar Pistorius shoots girlfriend
- Thread starter figarot
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anglolawyer
Banned
Someone posted before that the well off could buy privileges inside that would make life reasonably bearable. OTOH I heard he has run out of money so maybe he won't be able to afford them. I guess he can sell his memoires at some point - there is bound to be a publisher out there who will pay for those.
Damn, thought it a bit lyrical as I penned it. Does inane blogging get like a million monkeys for a million years??would make a good band name though
Yes, he is apparently broke and had to sell his house to pay for his defence. This could of course be absolutely 100% true but then again he may one day start to draw a wage from BladeRunner Inc. (or wherever else he stashed his cash).
Hang on, is it untrue his immediate family are exceedingly wealthy property developers?
anglolawyer
Banned
His representation cannot have been cheap. I still think it iniquitous whenever I hear of a defendant being financially broken, even if guilty, as a kind of gratuitous extra punishment resulting from the refusal of the state to fund an adequate defence. It's not how I was brought up. Look at Dave Lee Travis who ended up convicted of one paltry offence but was rendered broke at an age when he can hardly rebuild his fortune. I might start a thread.
Sure, but then again Pistorius' team threw everything AND the kitchen sink at his defence. Should the state cover all costs no matter how incurred, how expensive or how (ir)relevant ?
anglolawyer
Banned
The state should fund an adequate defence. When I practised criminal law we had a duty to protect and preserve the legal aid fund. I imagine the same holds now. Trouble is, there are no votes in such things so it takes an enlightened government to uphold the underlying values.
Scordatura
Critical Thinker
Roux said Oscar is now too broke to pay for his legal defense. I guess OP's family is covering any deficit on his behalf but who knows?
And we never heard anything more about the financial information contained on the USB memory stick Oscar's lawyer (Oldwage?) took from the house on the morning of the murder and gave to the family.
Supposedly OP owned a house in Italy and had offshore accounts. Roux stated in court that there was no house in Italy and one account was in Brunswick, North Carolina from 2002 and was dormant. The memory stick was never returned to investigators so it's possible other financial information was never disclosed.
newyorkguy
Penultimate Amazing
I heard the report of the sentencing on U.S. TV at the doctor's office while waiting to pick up my wife. The newscaster said (in part):
One of the other men in the waiting room muttered, "Somebody needs glasses." When you hear "mistaking her for an intruder," especially unexpectedly like that, it does sound slightly absurd.
Now if you're presuming Pistorius was guilty of knowingly shooting his girlfriend in a fit of rage (and I am) where he got lucky was, 1) he fired at her through the door without being able to see her. Thus he was free to claim he didn't know it was Steenkamp. He could claim, "I thought it was an intruder," and realistically, no matter how preposterous it seems, there was very little chance the prosecutor could PROVE Pistorius knew it was his girlfriend. Second, Steenkamp died without ever regaining consciousness. Had she lived long enough to make a statement to police, maybe everything is different. As it stands only one person on this earth knows what really happened and that person is Oscar Pistorius.
If he was guilty of deliberate murder of his girlfriend hopefully he'll punish himself far worse than any court can. People like him usually do.
One of the other men in the waiting room muttered, "Somebody needs glasses." When you hear "mistaking her for an intruder," especially unexpectedly like that, it does sound slightly absurd.
Now if you're presuming Pistorius was guilty of knowingly shooting his girlfriend in a fit of rage (and I am) where he got lucky was, 1) he fired at her through the door without being able to see her. Thus he was free to claim he didn't know it was Steenkamp. He could claim, "I thought it was an intruder," and realistically, no matter how preposterous it seems, there was very little chance the prosecutor could PROVE Pistorius knew it was his girlfriend. Second, Steenkamp died without ever regaining consciousness. Had she lived long enough to make a statement to police, maybe everything is different. As it stands only one person on this earth knows what really happened and that person is Oscar Pistorius.
If he was guilty of deliberate murder of his girlfriend hopefully he'll punish himself far worse than any court can. People like him usually do.
Scordatura
Critical Thinker
Puppycow
Penultimate Amazing
Only 10 months in prison according to his defence lawyers.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29712728
I suspect there's many in SA serving much longer sentences for much less serious crimes. There certainly are in America.
ETA: Of course, I also believe he should have been found guilty of murder.
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Puppycow
Penultimate Amazing
Scordatura
Critical Thinker
The only thing Masipa said about Reeva today was that she “was good in front of a camera.” No mention of her law degree, no mention of her work with victims of domestic violence. How disrespectful.
To Masipa Oscar was the poor, downtrodden victim who lost everything, who was broken, while Reeva was nothing more than bikini-clad eye candy.
Disgusting.
To Masipa Oscar was the poor, downtrodden victim who lost everything, who was broken, while Reeva was nothing more than bikini-clad eye candy.
Disgusting.
Is there any evidence that Masipa might harbor some resentment against Steenkamp as a type: she probably doesn't feel much in common with a white, blonde Dutch model.
Puppycow
Penultimate Amazing
Can the prosecution even do that?
According to news reports. In other words I'm not certain
MontagK505
Illuminator
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The man's character as presented at trial, suggests that he is one of those people who is never wrong no matter how wrong they are. You are right, the prosecution did not prove Oscar knew it was her behind the door.
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