PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Oscar Pistorius is in a South African court for a sentencing hearing after the double-amputee Olympian was convicted of murdering girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
The sentencing hearing began Monday and the process is expected to last several days before a judge announces the sentence. The minimum sentence for murder in South Africa is 15 years in jail, though a judge can reduce that sentence in some circumstances.
It will be the second time Pistorius has been sentenced for the killing, following a judge’s earlier ruling that he was guilty of the lesser charge of negligent homicide. The appeals court rejected that verdict.
The three-year legal saga that began with Steenkamp’s fatal shooting in the pre-dawn hours of Valentine’s Day 2013 now appears to be near its end.
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