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Trial

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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]

* Follow Reeva Steenkamp @reevasteenkamp 之 What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow??? #getexcited #ValentinesDay Reply t Retweet ★ Favorite More RETWEETS FAVORITES 2,982 926 鼷画寵欄悉 6:37 AM-13 Feb 2013

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).

JUST DOIT

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.

* Trevor Noah @Trevornoah Follow And he Oscar goees io jail Reply t Retweet ★ Favorite More RETWEETS FAVORITES 2,843 436 4:53 AM- 14 Feb 2013

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.”

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.

Charlys Bakery O0 JUST DO IT JUST DO IT

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]

Charly's Bakery @charlysbakery We seriously got it wrong with the #OscarMedia Meme cookies & we are hanging our collective heads in shame. #WeAlways RememberReeva 9:15 AM-25 Feb 2014 39 RETWEETS 10 FAVORITES Follow Charly's Bakery @charlysbakery The #OscarMedia cookies were NOT for sale. Our intention was to stimulate debate as we always do with topical issues in the media 10:09 AM-25 Feb 2014 9 RETWEETS 5 FAVORITES

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]

Follow Louis Nel @LouisNel #Things LongerThanOscarsSentence 5:31 AM-21 Oct 2014 119 RETWEETS 73 FAVORITES
Will Harding @Will_Harding71 Follow #ThingsLongerThanOscarsSentence The taste of this Hubba Bubba RETWEETS FAVORITES 254 269 2:18 PM-21 Oct 2014
Student Problems @ProblemsAtUni 塩Follow SP #ThingsLongerThanOscarssentence The amount of work I am currently avoiding RETWEETS FAVORITES 370 5:08 AM - 22 Oct 2014
Georgie @GeorginaHillxo Follow #ThingsLongerThanOscarsSentence Leonardo DiCaprio's Oscar acceptance speech わ ★ RETWEETSFAVORITES 10:50 AM- 21 Oct 2014

Search Interest

External References

[1] Reddit – Oscar Pistorius Shoots and Kills Girlfriend

[2] BBC News – As it happened Oscar Pistorius Verdict

[3] Twitter – @reevasteenkamp

[4] Reddit – Nike Ad For Oscar Pistorius

[5] The Onion – Burglar Hiding in Pistorius' Bathroom Figures Now Probably His Best Chance to Escape

[6] Twitter – @OscarHardTruth

[7] Time Magazine – Pistorius and South Africas Culture of Violence

[8] Daily Maverick – Letter to Oscar

[9] Jezebel – Bakery Is Very Sorry for Oscar Pistorius Meme Cookies

[10] Twitter – Charlys Bakery

[11] CBS News – Bakery Apologizes

[12] The Citizen – Bakery Apologizes Oscar Cookies

[13] The Huffington Post – "Oscar Pistorius 5 Year Sentence Sparks ":http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/10/21/oscar-pistorius-trial-5-y_n_6019908.html

[14] Memeburn – 21 #ThingsLongerThanOScarsSentence

[15] Express – Things longer than Oscars sentence

[16] CTV News – Pistorius sentencing inspires backlash

[17] Twitter – #ThingsLongerThanOscarsSentence



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Oscar Pistorius' Trial

Oscar Pistorius' Trial

Updated Mar 23, 2017 at 12:35AM EDT by Don.

Added Sep 11, 2014 at 05:03PM EDT by Don.

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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]


* Follow Reeva Steenkamp @reevasteenkamp 之 What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow??? #getexcited #ValentinesDay Reply t Retweet ★ Favorite More RETWEETS FAVORITES 2,982 926 鼷画寵欄悉 6:37 AM-13 Feb 2013

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).


JUST DOIT

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.


* Trevor Noah @Trevornoah Follow And he Oscar goees io jail Reply t Retweet ★ Favorite More RETWEETS FAVORITES 2,843 436 4:53 AM- 14 Feb 2013

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.”

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.


Charlys Bakery O0 JUST DO IT JUST DO IT

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]


Charly's Bakery @charlysbakery We seriously got it wrong with the #OscarMedia Meme cookies & we are hanging our collective heads in shame. #WeAlways RememberReeva 9:15 AM-25 Feb 2014 39 RETWEETS 10 FAVORITES Follow Charly's Bakery @charlysbakery The #OscarMedia cookies were NOT for sale. Our intention was to stimulate debate as we always do with topical issues in the media 10:09 AM-25 Feb 2014 9 RETWEETS 5 FAVORITES

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]


Follow Louis Nel @LouisNel #Things LongerThanOscarsSentence 5:31 AM-21 Oct 2014 119 RETWEETS 73 FAVORITES Will Harding @Will_Harding71 Follow #ThingsLongerThanOscarsSentence The taste of this Hubba Bubba RETWEETS FAVORITES 254 269 2:18 PM-21 Oct 2014 Student Problems @ProblemsAtUni 塩Follow SP #ThingsLongerThanOscarssentence The amount of work I am currently avoiding RETWEETS FAVORITES 370 5:08 AM - 22 Oct 2014 Georgie @GeorginaHillxo Follow #ThingsLongerThanOscarsSentence Leonardo DiCaprio's Oscar acceptance speech わ ★ RETWEETSFAVORITES 10:50 AM- 21 Oct 2014

Search Interest

External References

[1] Reddit – Oscar Pistorius Shoots and Kills Girlfriend

[2] BBC News – As it happened Oscar Pistorius Verdict

[3] Twitter – @reevasteenkamp

[4] Reddit – Nike Ad For Oscar Pistorius

[5] The Onion – Burglar Hiding in Pistorius' Bathroom Figures Now Probably His Best Chance to Escape

[6] Twitter – @OscarHardTruth

[7] Time Magazine – Pistorius and South Africas Culture of Violence

[8] Daily Maverick – Letter to Oscar

[9] Jezebel – Bakery Is Very Sorry for Oscar Pistorius Meme Cookies

[10] Twitter – Charlys Bakery

[11] CBS News – Bakery Apologizes

[12] The Citizen – Bakery Apologizes Oscar Cookies

[13] The Huffington Post – "Oscar Pistorius 5 Year Sentence Sparks ":http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/10/21/oscar-pistorius-trial-5-y_n_6019908.html

[14] Memeburn – 21 #ThingsLongerThanOScarsSentence

[15] Express – Things longer than Oscars sentence

[16] CTV News – Pistorius sentencing inspires backlash

[17] Twitter – #ThingsLongerThanOscarsSentence

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