Appeals Court Convicts Pistorius of Murder

JOHANNESBURG (AP) _ South Africa’s top appeals court has convicted Oscar Pistorius of murder, overturning the double-amputee Olympian’s lesser manslaughter conviction for shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp to death in 2013.

The five-judge Supreme Court of Appeal directed the trial court to impose a sentence. The former track star is under house arrest at his uncle’s mansion in Pretoria and was not in court.

A 15-year prison sentence is the usual minimum punishment for murder in South Africa. However, the law allows for a lesser sentence to be imposed in exceptional circumstances.

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