Oscar Pistorius will become a relatively free man in two weeks. His prosecutor now has just three weeks to submit for an appeal that could force Pistorius back to prison.
And at least one expert thinks the appeal is useless.
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South Africa's news24.com is reporting that the South Africa Supreme Court of Appeals has set an Aug. 28 deadline - one week after Pistorius is scheduled to be released from Kgosi Mampuru Prison in Pretoria, South Africa - to file an appeal of the "Blade Runner's" culpable homicide conviction.
Pistorius is serving a five-year sentence in the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the early morning hours of Valentine's Day in 2013 in his Pretoria home. He claims he shot her by accident and Judge Thokozile Masipa sentenced him to five years via the culpable homicide charge, rather than murder.
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Under South African law, prisoners are eligible to be placed under house arrest after serving one-sixth of their sentence, which in Pistorius' case is Aug. 21.
Masipa later ruled that the prosecution was allowed to file an appeal with the Supreme Court of Appeals. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel tried and failed to convince the appeals court to read the entire court record of Pistorius' original trial. SCA president Judge Lex Mpati agreed with defense lawyer Barry Roux in that only relevant parts of the case should be read, news24.com reported.
Criminal lawyer Jaco du Plessis told news24.com that reading the entire case proceedings would have given the SCA a more complete picture of the events.
Not that that matters.
"However, in my opinion, this appeal is purely academic," du Plessis said. "I think the state is wasting its time and the appeal is sour grapes."
Author Mandy Wiesner, who co-authored "Behind the Door: The Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp Story" with Barry Bateman, says South Africa must prepare for an emotional response from its citizens over Pistorius' release.
"So academically, legally and logically, it makes sense for Pistorius to be released on parole," she wrote for news24.com. "But, that may not mean that we as society are emotionally ready for it. If there is one thing we have learnt from this case, it is that emotion and personal opinion clouds logic and the law. Come 21 August, you can expect the public to lose any sense of rational thought and slot comfortably into the default position of anger and outrage. This case tends to have that effect on us."
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