Oscar Pistorius' Trial

Overview

Oscar Pistorius' Trial is an ongoing murder trial of South African sprint runner and Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius for the fatal shooting of fashion model and his then-girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in February 2013. After months of legal proceedings and deliberation in court, Pistorious was found not guilty of premeditated murder in September 2014.

Background

In early morning on February 14th, 2013, Pistorius shot and killed Steenkamp at his home in Pretoria, South Africa. Pistorius claimed to have shot his girlfriend after mistaking her for a home intruder while she was in the bathroom. The following day, police arrested Pistorius and charged him with murder.

Notable Developments

Online Reaction

That day, Redditor kevipedia submitted a news article about the shooting to the /r/worldnews^[1] subreddit, where it gained over 2,700 votes (89% upvoted) prior to being archived. In the comments section of the post, Redditor BobGeldof2nd pointed out that Steenkamp had tweeted about Valentine's Day one day prior to her murder (shown below).^[3]

Meanwhile, Redditor Lets_Shag posted a pulled Nike ad featuring Pistorius running with the caption "I am the bullet in the chamber" to the /r/WTF^[4] subreddit (shown below).

Also on February 14th, South African comedian Trevor Noah posted the tweet "And the Oscar goes to – Jail" in reference to Steenkamp's shooting (shown below). On February 23rd, the @OscarHardTruth^[6] Twitter account was launched by Pistorius' PR team to post updates about the murder trial.

Bail Hearing

On February 19th, the prosecution and defense acknowledged that Pistorius shot through his bathroom door four times with three shots hitting Steenkamp inside. The prosecution argued that the murder was premeditated, while the defense claimed Pistorius thought Steenkamp was in bed and an intruder had entered his bathroom.

News Media Coverage

On February 21, The Onion^[5] published an article titled “Burglar Hiding in Pistorius’ Bathroom Figures Now Probably His Best Chance to Escape.” On March 11th, the United Kingdom news channel BBC3 broadcast a documentary about the shooting titled “Oscar Pistorius: What Really Happened?” (shown below) That same day, TIME Magazine^[7] published an article on the story titled “Pistorius and South Africa’s Culture of Violence.”

On April 15th, 2014, the South African news site Daily Maverick^[8]published an op-ed by columnist Jani Allan, who accused Pistorius of taking acting lessons for his trial. On June 16th, the American television news program 48 Hours aired an hour-long segment on the incident titled “Oscar Pistorius: Shots in the Dark.”

Charly's Bakery Pistorius Cookie Gaffe

In February 2014, the South African bakery Charly's Bakery posted a photo of cookies decorated with images of Pistorius along with joke captions related to the shooting.

On February 25th, the bakery tweeted an apology for the cookie decorations.^[10] The social media gaffe was subsequently reported on by several news sites, including Jezebel,^[9] CBS News^[11] and The Citizen.^[12]

Verdict

On September 11th, 2014, Judge Masipia delivered a verdict of not guilty of premeditated murder for Pistorius but said he was "negligent," leaving him open to a conviction for culpable homicide. On the following day, Pistorius was found guilty of culpable homicide and a charge for reckless endargement for discharging a firearm in a restaurant.

Sentencing

On October 21st, 2014, Pistorius was sentenced to a maximum of five years for culpable homicide and three years for reckless endangerment. That day, the hashtag "#ThingsLongerThanOscarsSentence"^[17] began circulating on Twitter, accompanied by jokes comparing of the length of the prison sentence to short lived events, topics and objects (shown below). In the coming days, several news sites reported on the Twitter backlash, including The Huffington Post,^[13] Memeburn,^[14] Express^[15] and CTV News.^[16]

Search Interest

External References