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Oscar Pistorius Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison

PRETORIA, South Africa (CBS) – Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp with four shots...
Oscar Pistorius

PRETORIA, South Africa (CBS) – Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp with four shots from a handgun on Valentine’s Day 2013.

Pistorius remained emotionless as the sentence was read, but bowed his head slightly as the legal teams concluded proceedings and cried quietly.

His lawyer, Barry Roux, said after the sentencing that Pistorius was expected to actually serve 10 months behind bars and the remainder of his sentence under house arrest. CBS News’ Debora Patta says the 10-month mark is the earliest Pistorius can apply for a transfer from prison to house arrest.

The former Paralympic double-amputee track star known as “Blade Runner” — who shot to international fame when he was granted permission to run in the 2012 Olympics alongside able-bodies athletes — has maintained since the day of the shooting that he believed an intruder entered his home and was hiding behind the locked bathroom cubicle door.

Prosecutors argued that he knew it was Steenkamp behind the door in his luxury house and that he shot her in a fit of rage after an argument.

Both the prosecution and Pistorius’ legal team have the option of appealing Judge Thokozile Masipa’s sentence.

She sentenced him to five years for killing Steenkamp, and an additional three years for the unlawful discharge of a firearm in a restaurant in a separate incident. She suspended the three-year sentence for the discharge of a firearm for a period of five years.

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