February 22, 2013

"A South African magistrate granted bail Friday to double amputee Olympian Oscar Pistorius..."

"... who is accused of murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius is charged with premeditated murder in the death of Steenkamp."

CNN breaking news email.

Wow.

If you were him now, wouldn't you attempt to flee?

ADDED: Think he's too recognizable because of his lack of feet? What about the 1-armed man on "The Fugitive"? He escaped notice for years.

34 comments:

Patrick said...

He won't get far on....

Oh, forget it.

Henry said...

Flee where?

Wince said...

Flight risk?

They should take away his "blades".

dbp said...

Just confiscate one of his artificial legs: If he tries to flee, he'll just run in circles.

Anonymous said...

Let's see.

No passports.
No legs.
No money.

Yup . . . That guy is a major flight risk.

Not.

Wince said...

The major problem with getting away with murdering a beautiful blonde girlfriend or wife seems to be getting rich and famous enough to get the beautiful blonde girlfriend of wife to murder in the first place.

Think of all the poor saps that expose themselves to the vagaries of the legal system through legitimate divorce.

Women, can't live with 'em, can't kill...er, never mind.

traditionalguy said...

I expect that he'll have another girl friend snowed by the weeks end. Then she will do everything for him until he gets mad and abuses another one.
He has a servant problem.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Pistorius isn't a flight risk unless he has prosthetic wings.

LoafingOaf said...

"If you were him now, wouldn't you attempt to flee?"

No. They were saying on TV last night that South Africa's conviction rate in murder cases is just 10%. His chances of going on the run and getting away seem low, whereas he has a fighting chance in court.

LoafingOaf said...

"No passports.
No legs.
No money."

A lot of wealthy folks have stashes of large amounts of cash in secret locations.

LoafingOaf said...

Will criminals go after him now that they know he won't have a gun in his home while awaiting his murder trial?

Wince said...

I wonder if he'd fit in a suitcase?

Charlotte C said...

The magistrate did, however, keep the charge as a schedule six offence, or premeditated murder. Which necessitated the defence team to prove extenuating circumstances to justify granting bail.

Charlotte C said...

...toxicology reports for South African court cases have a seven year backlog.

It seems I was lucky when the police informed me that it could take "anything up to three years" to get the finalised blood tests back for a recently deceased family member.

Wince said...

Now he's really gone and shot himself in the foo...

MayBee said...

I guess I don't get why posts about the murder of this young woman always provoke bad jokes.

lgv said...

The only one looking for the one armed man was David Jansen.

Wince said...

The one armed man looked like Al Gore when he threw his gun.

Rosalyn C. said...

I don't think anyone thinks the murder was premeditated, even if you don't believe his story, so the charge is bogus. The police immediately contaminated the crime scene (because they had run out of foot covers), so we know their police work is subpar. There's no way to prove Pistorius knew Steenkemp was in the bathroom when he shot. He' s guilty of shooting first and asking questions later.

Time to hit the snooze button, this case will go on for years. He'll plead out to some lesser charge, like reckless endangerment? And he'll have to pay millions to the Steenkemp family.

And then we'll forget about him until he has his next rage attack or drunk driving accident.

I wonder if Reeva knew what he was capable of or expressed any fears about him to anyone? Or had plans to break off the relationship?

Bob R said...

Well, I had my Emily Littela moment when I assumed it would be a jury trial before, but it seems that an OJ/Claudine Longet outcome is not completely ruled out.

edutcher said...

No flight risk, but he may skip town.

(had to...)

Aridog said...

Ululating Umlungu said...

The magistrate did, however, keep the charge as a schedule six offence, or premeditated murder.

Damn! Now I've gotta go look up what those extenuating circumstances were/are that allowed bail for someone charged with premeditated murder.

Layman that I am, I've always thought (foolishly?) denial of bail in capital murder cases was to protect the public from future rampage, as much as preventing risk of flight.

Colonel Angus said...

What about the 1-armed man on "The Fugitive"? He escaped notice for years.

That's because no one was looking for him but Dr. Kimball.

Derve Swanson said...

If you were him now, wouldn't you attempt to flee?
---------

hell no.
dumbest move he could make, since it seems the case against him is legally falling apart. = they're now saying, 'evidence shows it could have happened the way he said'/detective collecting evidence accused of murder himself.

no wonder people asked if you cheat on your taxes...

did you ever really practice law???

oh, got it...

just a setup for the double amputee jokes. keep forgetting this is performance art blog, not about law.

silly joker, you.

Methadras said...

It wasn't me!!! It was the one-armed man!!!

Mary Beth said...

EDH said...

The one armed man looked like Al Gore when he threw his gun.

2/22/13, 9:49 AM


He did!

Charlotte C said...

Damn! Now I've gotta go look up what those extenuating circumstances were/are that allowed bail for someone charged with premeditated murder.
Aridog, re the extenuating circumstances, I've looked at the transcript of the judgement, and can’t find anything that might be interpreted as such. Like you, I believed denial of bail was about protecting the public as much as preventing the accused from absconding.

David said...

He won't get far on foot.

But he may be a blade runner.

Aridog said...

Ululating Umlungu...I agree,even with a long boring read of the 3rd day transcript (latest I could find)I saw no evidence of extenuating circumstances presented or mentioned in the final bail ruling. The judge did say he didn't think ole Oscar was a danger to the pubic more or less, but gave no rationale for that opinion.

As for the transcript I read, it was about 75% "Oscar is special...he's unique" blah blah blah.

It's all about Oscar. Even judge is impressed. Sorry about that, Reeva.

AlanKH said...

The final episode of "The Fugitive" is the only episode I've ever seen. (Some TV special way back.)

Ben Morris said...

Maybe I'm being too simplistic, but this seems destined for a 2nd-degree murder conviction (or even plea). The prosecution is bungling their premeditation case, and Pistorius has basically confessed to the rest.

Aridog said...

Ben Morris said...

Maybe I'm being too simplistic,...

Nope. I think you are not simplistic enough.

This is "OSCAR" [Ta-da!!!] on trial, the Oscar who is adored...world wide, yada yada.

My bet is he'll get by, at worst, with the least form of manslaughter they have in the SA system...or he'll just walk.

He was jest so turrible scairt and jest fired at the looming locked menacing door in self defense. Sho nuff.

kentuckyliz said...

Piss Piss Pistorious

That's how I hear it in my head every time I hear that name.

tiger said...

All the media frenzy - especially here in the US - is...just ridiculous? absurd? an attempt by US media to continue in their efforts to reporting on real news?

Yeah the last one.

Yet another example of bread and circuses.