OSCAR PISTORIOUS GUILTY OF CULPABLE HOMICIDE.
Friday's verdict comes a day after Judge Thokozile Masipa cleared Pistorius of murder in the killing of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
His sentencing starts on October 13, the judge said after granting him bail.
The customary maximum
prison sentence for culpable homicide is 15 years, but a typical
sentence is five to eight years, said Kelly Phelps, a CNN legal analyst.
Sentencing could be weeks away and will come after more legal argument.
The verdict also dealt with three other charges, all weapons-related.
Pistorius trial: How was decision reached?
Steenkamp: Law student to cover girl
Reeva Steenkamp in photos
'The Pistorius I knew'
He was found not guilty of two -- a car sunroof shooting incident and illegal possession of ammunition found at his house.
The judge found Pistorius
guilty of the third: a charge involving a shooting at a restaurant. The
maximum penalty for that is five years behind bars. But he could get a
lesser sentence, such as a fine or the loss of his gun license.
Weapons charges
In the shooting from the car's sunroof, Masipa
said the state failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. She
said she didn't find the state's witnesses persuasive, saying their
versions of events differed too much.
In the second charge,
Pistorius was found not guilty of having illegal ammunition at his
house. Masipa said the state failed to introduce evidence that proved he
intended to possess the ammunition. Pistorius had said he was storing
it in a safe for his father.
In the restaurant
shooting, she said the state had proved its case. Pistorius, she said,
was trained in the use of guns and should not have asked for the gun at
the restaurant, let alone handled it.
Letting the world know
Masipa,
who has presided impassively for months over the high-profile trial,
finally let the world know what she has been thinking on the first day
of reading her verdict Thursday.
Pistorius did not intend
to kill his girlfriend, she said, accepting his defense that he thought
someone had broken into his house and that he believed he was defending
himself.
Pistorius,
27, has always admitted firing the bullets that killed his girlfriend
Steenkamp, a 29-year-old cover model about to turn reality TV star. He
pleaded not guilty to murdering her in his home on Valentine's Day last
year, saying the killing was a tragic mistake.
Photos: Oscar Pistorius murder trial
Pistorius judge, stern yet compassionate
From 'blade runner' to murder suspect
But in grabbing his gun
and heading toward the supposed threat, Pistorius "acted too hastily and
used excessive force," Masipa ruled Thursday.
"His conduct was
negligent" and not what a reasonable man would do in the circumstances
-- not even a disabled one, she said before adjourning for the day.
Defense arguments that
his upbringing "in a crime-riddled environment and in a home where the
mother was paranoid and always carried a firearm" might explain his
conduct that night, but "it does not excuse the conduct," Masipa said.
"The accused had
reasonable time to reflect, to think and to conduct himself reasonably,"
she said. "I am not persuaded that a reasonable person with the
accused's disabilities in the same circumstances would have fired four
shots into that small toilet cubicle."
There is no minimum
sentence for culpable homicide in South African law, so it will be up to
the judge to decide. Sentencing takes place in a separate phase of the
trial that can come weeks after the verdict.
Not guilty of murder
Masipa on Thursday found Pistorius not guilty of murder, premeditated or otherwise.
She said the prosecution had failed to prove its case that Pistorius and Steenkamp argued on the night of the killing, and that the Olympic track star then shot her in a rage.
Masipa was not persuaded by the testimony of neighbors who said they heard shouting, screaming and shots.
The neighbors' stories
do not match the timings on phone records the night of the killing, she
concluded, saying: "Technology is more reliable than human perception
and human memory."
She also said she
believes that media coverage contaminated testimonies and that state
witnesses were in and out of sleep the night of the killing.
"The accused had reasonable time to reflect, to think and to conduct himself reasonably."
Judge Thokozile Masipa
Judge Thokozile Masipa
She knocked down other
key aspects of the state's case: the fact that Steenkamp took her phone
and locked herself in the bathroom allegedly out of fear for her safety,
phone messages between the couple that showed some rocky patches, and
stomach contents that might suggest the victim ate later than Pistorius
said.
Pistorius could be seen
crying at times during the reading of the lengthy verdict. The
Olympian's trial started six months ago, transfixing the world with
graphic details of how he fatally shot Steenkamp.
CNN.
