Oscar Pistorius Clashes With Prosecutor Over Picture Of Reeva Steenkamp - Trial Day 19 - YouTube
I do not think that the defense has proven PM.
1) (15:54) “The accident was that I discharged my firearm in the belief that an intruder was coming out to attack me I never intended to shoot anyone Mi’Lady I got a fright from a noise I heard inside the toilet, I perceived it to be somebody coming out to attack me that is what I believed.”
2) “Mi’Lady as I said I wasn’t meaning to shoot anyone, I went to the bathroom so I could put myself between what I perceived was danger and Reeva, to approach in the time that I did, I didn’t have much time to think..” “Mi’Lady I shot because I at that point that split moment I believed somebody was coming out to attack me.” It is here that I think Nel feels his case slipping away and begins to try to get Oscar to admit to culpable homicide which Oscar does not do. IMO Oscar either through honesty or brilliance beat Nel at his own game in this exchange.
3) Oscar has stuck to the core of his original version of that morning.
4) Oscar opened wide his front door, after he had been screaming, after the gunshots, and I think it bends the realms of logic to think he did so with the intentions of toting Reeva’s body off somewhere after the loudness of events that just happened.
5) Oscar did admit to killing Reeva,(7:17) his exact words were “My mistake was that I took Reeva’s life Mi’ lady”. Nel demanded that Oscar not only state that he mistakenly took Reeva’s life but Nel insisted “You killed her you shot and killed her won’t you take responsibility for that.” To which Oscar responded “I did Mi’Lady”.
6) Nell can and did outwit Oscar at points, he twisted Oscar’s words and I don’t believe that will be lost on Mi’lady, one instance of this is when Nel chastised Oscar when Oscar admitted that he was trying to understand the implications of his own answers to Nel’s questions. IMO Oscar said exactly what he meant, Oscar is horrendously sorry that he killed Reeva, but it was unintentional and Oscar poorly but correctly stated that Nel was playing semantics in order to get Oscar to admit premeditated murder.
7) The scream testimonies are inconclusive.
8) I think the video (8:30) showing Oscar firing guns and talking about a Zombie brain will be seen as the parlor stunt that it was and that Oscar was very accurate in his assessment in saying that it carried no relevance.
9) Nel’s nonsense of saying that Oscar was getting emotional when it was convenient for him was in stark opposition to the recorded history of the trial. More importantly was the arrow shot across the bow by Judge Masipa when she said “It’s fine, he can be emotional, he has been emotional, I don’t think you can ask him why, now, he has been emotional throughout.”
10) Oscar sounds like a woman when he gets emotional; there is no reason to think if the morning unfolded on a similar fashion in which he has told it did, to think that his screaming could not have easily been mistaken for a screaming woman.
11) The difference between whisper and low tone is a nonissue.
12) The scene was contaminated by poor police work which makes the grand photographic evidence, of Oscar’s story being impossible because of what the photographs show, a moot point.
I think Masipa has shown sound judgment in the past and will continue to do so in this case, I will respect her decision. I also think that the assessors, one a former defense attorney and one a newly minted academic are going to be Defense friendly.
I believe Nel is more interested in his own ego than getting to the facts.
That Oscar has character issues and some histrionic traits does not make him a cold blooded killer. Nor IMO has the evidence proven him such so far. I think his remorse and emotion is for both Reeva and himself.