Prosecutors will seek to appeal Pistorius verdict

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Prosecutors in the Oscar Pistorius case said Monday that they would file appeal papers against the verdict and sentence after the Olympic runner was convicted of culpable homicide and given a five-year prison term for killing his girlfriend.

The decision by South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority could see Pistorius face a murder conviction again for shooting Reeva Steenkamp and, if found guilty on the appeal, a minimum of 15 years in prison.

The 27-year-old double-amputee athlete was acquitted of murder by Judge Thokozile Masipa for shooting Steenkamp, 29, multiple times through a toilet cubicle door in his home. He testified he mistook her for a nighttime intruder. Masipa found him guilty instead on a lesser charge comparable to manslaughter.

The NPA said in a statement that its decision to appeal was based on a "question of law," meaning it believed the judge misapplied the law when she acquitted Pistorius of murder.

"The merits and the demerits of the NPA's argument ... will become evident when we file papers for leave to appeal," the national prosecuting body said.

Chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel and his assistant, Andrea Johnson, had been "hard at work" studying the judgment, researching and consulting with legal experts, the NPA said.

Prosecutors must apply initially to Masipa for permission to appeal within 14 days of Pistorius' sentencing last Tuesday. If Masipa grants them permission, Pistorius' case would be reviewed by a panel of three or five judges in the Supreme Court of Appeal, said legal expert Marius du Toit. They could overturn the manslaughter conviction and find Pistorius guilty of murder.

Pistorius' lawyer, Brian Webber, declined to comment.

Experts say there are grounds for an appeal, partly because the judge may have misapplied a part of the law called "dolus eventualis" - which says someone should be found guilty of murder if they foresaw the possibility of killing someone through their actions and went ahead anyway. The experts questioned how Masipa ruled that Pistorius did not predict that someone might die when he decided to shoot four times into the small toilet cubicle in his home, hitting Steenkamp in the hip, arm, and head.