The 'Blade Runner' will appeal the appeal.
Multiple media outlets are reporting that attorneys for double-amputee Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius will challenge Judge Thokozile Masipa's ruling that the prosecution can appeal the culpable homicide charge she handed him in September over the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day morning, 2013.
BBC.com is reporting that defense lawyers now are set to appear before Masipa on March 13 to cite previous cases to back their argument that the appeal should not be allowed.
The Guardian is reporting that an appeal in South Africa is granted only on a question of law, not on a judge's factual findings. Pistorius' defense team will argue that Masipa did not err when she refused to apply the principle of "dolus eventualis" - a category of murder in which the subject foresees that his act can cause death but executed that act anyway.
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While other reports indicate that Pistorius' defense team is acting to prevent the appeal from taking place, the Guardian is reporting that Pistorius' lawyers have decided to fight the appeal now in the hope that Masipa will concede that another court could find that the verdict was based on fact, rather than on an interpretation of the law.
"An appeal can only be granted on a question of law, not on a judge's factual findings," the Guardian reported. "Masipa agreed with the prosecutors' contention that the verdict was based on her interpretation of law, but the defense will seek to cast doubt on this at the South Gauteng high court in Johannesburg on March 13.
"... This may prove a crucial legal weapon for them and deprive the state of momentum when the case is heard at the supreme court later this year."
Pistorius currently is serving a five-year sentence for the culpable homicide charge - the South African equivalent of manslaughter. He would be eligible in August to serve the remainder of his sentence in house arrest, barring the retrial that the prosecution wants.
The Paralympian shot Steenkamp four times through the bathroom door, adjacent to his upstairs bedroom. He argued that his mistook Steenkamp for a burglar. The prosecution alleged that he shot her after an argument.
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