CRAZY LIKE A FOX?
Today I play devils advocate. I present my defense of Masipas shocking verdict. Read on. 
Masipa is well aware of the Pistorius familys wealth, power and connections.
I believe she may also be crazy like a fox.
Is it really possible that a judge like Masipa - with her sterling reputation, personal background and strong judicial history defending women - could make such a colossal mess of this verdict?
What are the chances she would get clear, well-settled points of criminal law 100% wrong and present such hideous, abbreviated, blatantly selective, emotional reasoning?
Was she (an experienced judge in rape and murder trials, who hands down harsh sentences) really incapable of seeing Nels damning mosaic?
Why, suddenly, with this one case, was she seemingly overcome with sympathy and kindness towards a woman killer? (Given her history, its highly illogical.)
Why would she ignore crucial state facts and evidence on a wholesale level, instead overtly cherry-picking highly specific, dubious "facts" to support her pro-OP conclusion?
Why would she toss clear rationale, all logical inference out the window, as well as most of the States case, including multiple, highly credible ear witnesses and strong forensic experts? Instead, she offered an irrational, contradictory, piecemeal, highly selective, cut-and-paste explanation, strikingly in favor of OPs remorse, etc.
(We all know that remorse is no proof of innocence; abusers are notorious for remorse after their atrocities. Remorse is what comes into play at sentence mitigation, not in reaching a verdict.)
Her convoluted logic was patently illogical from beginning to end.
Its almost as if she deliberately went over the top, screwing it all up, thereby guaranteeing that the State will appeal.
Acquitting OP of all charges was never a viable option on any level for any reason (the cold facts of his action demanded this minimum verdict to pass the smell test).
I believe Masipa will likely hand down a suspended prison sentence, perhaps with hefty fines. This would guarantee that the delighted Roux would not appeal. However, it would guarantee that Nel will absolutely appeal (no doubt he and his team are already hard at work on said appeal as we speak).
Together, her bizarre, inexplicable verdict and even worse sentence would catapult this case to the next stage.
If the shocked and outraged law commentary by most of the SA legal community is anything to go by, Masipas verdict and sentence will be overturned by the Appeals Court.
Masipas strategy:
The chances of her CH verdict being overturned and reduced to acquittal are virtually ZERO.
However, the chances that her CH verdict will be upgraded to
dolus eventualis and her suspended prison sentence upgraded to actual prison are extremely high. If events go according to her plan, the giddy OP better enjoy his victory while he can because when the States appeal hits, theres only one direction left for him ... down.
Heres the beauty of Masipas madness.
Had she declared a verdict of dolus eventualis (which the best and brightest, trained legal minds fully expected), Defense would have automatically appealed. This would have left open the (remote) possibility that the Appeals Court would reduce it to CH, along with a mere slap on the hand. This potential scenario would be 100% unacceptable to Masipas legal and moral senses.
Masipa wants to insure that OP gets convicted of murder, gets actual prison and it all sticks.
She gave Roux an easy win, caught Defense in her judicial trap and will allow the Appeals Court to drop the hammer on the stunned OP.
Why do I think Masipa is crazy like a fox? If only one or two legal pundits had condemned her verdict, that would be chalked up to mere opinion. But most ALL of them?!! The very fact that the vast majority of the SA legal community (as well as the public) is shocked and outraged by her verdict very strongly indicates that her verdict is profoundly wrong on multiple levels and cannot stand.
The
very real danger to OP is not only that her ruling and sentence will very likely be overturned and upgraded by the higher court - its all but virtually guaranteed
(seriously, what are the chances that the Appeals judges will be as equally f##ked up as Masipa? And should this case ever get to the Supreme Court, what of those judges? Would they also be as inexplicably insane in their reasoning and legal interpretation to reach the same conclusion as Masipa? IMHO, highly doubtful).
This was no ordinary murder trial; this was no ordinary SA defendant. Masipa knows exactly whats at stake. She knew exactly what was coming her way with her CH verdict. By throwing herself on her sword and allowing herself to become a legal laughingstock, the object of wholesale ridicule and condemnation from most every corner, she may also have become a quiet, very wily hero.
The trap is set.
Did Masipa get it wrong?
Perhaps she got it very right.
