# Africas's OJ Simpson trial....



## CeeCee (Feb 28, 2014)

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/02/28/bladerunner-murder-trial-shaping-up-like-reality-tv-circus/

Think I may get into this one, hope it is on here...I didn't read the whole article I just posted.

Last trial I watched was Casey Anthony.


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## Gael (Mar 1, 2014)

I've been waiting for this trial. Seems it took forever to get him to trial. It was a massive story here in the UK and a disgrace that his girlfriend was so brutally murdered.

He was always supposed to be such a heroic icon but it came out afterwards that he had one nasty temper and had taken steroids. She was lovely and I feel for her family.

They don't have the death penalty in the Uk and too often not even full life terms, though a recent hideous slaughter of some British soldiers by radical muslims is changing that so that life means life.

Personally I hope they throw the book at him, even though that's a pretty light weight book in the UK.


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## Falcon (Mar 1, 2014)

As a juror, you cannot prejudge; you must base your decision on what's presented during the actual trial.

  Ha Ha...I know, I know.....


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## Gael (Mar 1, 2014)

Falcon said:


> As a juror, you cannot prejudge; you must base your decision on what's presented during the actual trial.
> 
> Ha Ha...I know, I know.....



Ah, but I'm not a juror. Just a knowitall member of the public.


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## Denise1952 (Mar 1, 2014)

are you kidding me?  It's been 20 years hasn't it?  I'm just surprised that if they ever had the intention of doing another trial, why did it take so long?  No matter what is done to him by man, if he is guilty (which I always believed he was/is) I don't think he's gotten away with anything.  Can you imagine being in his shoes just, one single minute, I can't.


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## Denise1952 (Mar 1, 2014)

Oh, I guess I get to be on "America's Mosted Stupid" again today, thought this was for real.


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## Ina (Mar 1, 2014)

I lost faith in the legal system in 1993. The man that murdered my oldest son,ER, got to go for a plea bargain. No one ask our family what we thought should happen, or if we would even accept the bargain. There was no doubt who did what, there were at least 25 to 30 witnesses.  PLEA BARGAIN!!! What the h**l happened? Our family still does not understand, especially my grandchildren. Victims Services had just gotten started here, and they asked our whole family to be in court. The judge then verbally dressed us down, and then shamed my family about bringing ER's children to court. We had received written orders from the courts to show up. So I don't watch trials. :hiteachother:


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## Denise1952 (Mar 1, 2014)

Ina said:


> I lost faith in the legal system in 1993. The man that murdered my oldest son,ER, got to go for a plea bargain. No one ask our family what we thought should happen, or if we would even accept the bargain. There was no doubt who did what, there were at least 25 to 30 witnesses.  PLEA BARGAIN!!! What the h**l happened? Our family still does not understand, especially my grandchildren. Victims Services had just gotten started here, and they asked our whole family to be in court. The judge then verbally dressed us down, and then shamed my family about bringing ER's children to court. We had received written orders from the courts to show up. So I don't watch trials. :hiteachother:



Oh Ina  I am so sorry, you and hubby have been through so much.  I sure didn't think of anything like this though  I don't understand and never will, the way some "seem" to get away with things.  I don't have any faith in the system either Ina, and don't have TV, I only play old black and whites from my computer, onto my TV screen.  I don't miss it at all.  If the world is ending, I'd just as soon it happened when I "wasn't" looking, big hugs sweet lady, Denise (((((((((((((Ina))))))))))))


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## Ina (Mar 1, 2014)

It is one of those "thing" that I can't change, but I've never learned to accept it. And life in general won't let me forget.


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## That Guy (Mar 1, 2014)

Falcon said:


> As a juror, you cannot prejudge; you must base your decision on what's presented during the actual trial.
> 
> Ha Ha...I know, I know.....



Yeah.  I know, I know.  Have served on quite a few juries and it's difficult reminding people that, exactly.


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## Bee (Mar 1, 2014)

Gael said:


> I've been waiting for this trial. Seems it took forever to get him to trial. It was a massive story here in the UK and a disgrace that his girlfriend was so brutally murdered.
> 
> He was always supposed to be such a heroic icon but it came out afterwards that he had one nasty temper and had taken steroids. She was lovely and I feel for her family.
> 
> ...



Could you please explain what a trial in South Africa has to do with the U.K.?????


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## Gael (Mar 2, 2014)

That's a good example of the weak UK laws with such a possible sentence. I've seen murderers here get just a few years much less 25.

Well, I don't think this was necessarily a premediated murder. I think he's a hothead and lost it. But hopefully the facts will win out irregardless.

Prosecutors say his account is undermined by the physical and witness evidence:


Two iPhones were found in the bathroom, which seems strange if Reeva was there just to use the toilet, as Pistorius contends.


Five neighbors reportedly heard arguing and screaming in addition to gunfire. "If people say, 'We heard gunshot, a scream, gunshot, a scream,' you know it's going to be pretty much hard for you to argue that you still didn't know that the person who was screaming was your girlfriend," Mncube said.


A prosecution report obtained by South African broadcaster ENCA says the trajectory and grouping of the shots fired "indicate a direct intention to kill" — although they also support Oscar's contention that he was not wearing his prosthetics when he went to the bathroom door.

​



After he shot Steenkamp, Pistorius' first call was not to the police. "I don't think it's in dispute that he phoned his friend, and the friends were the first on the scene," Mncube said.


A security guard phoned Pistorius after the shooting to see if everything was OK, and he told them "Fine," according to the leaked prosecution document.
Prosecutors have not disclosed a motive for the alleged murder, but one of their witnesses may testify that Pistorius had a temper. Soccer star Marc Batchelor says Pistorius threatened to break his legs in a fury over his belief that Batchelor's friend, producer Quinton Van Der Burgh, had slept with his ex-girlfriend.
Batchelor also says Steenkamp's friends believed Pistorius was trying to find out if she had been in contact with her ex-boyfriend, Warren Lahoud. Just 36 hours before she was shot, she met Lahoud for coffee.
"She told me how well she was doing," Lahoud later said. "She seemed happy."
[h=1]Oscar Pistorius trial to begin next week[/h]TODAY

 
 
 









​

It's not known if Pistorius will testify in his own defense at the trial, parts of which will be televised. But South African journalist Karyn Maughan said his legal team is crafting a novel interpretation of the country's self-defense law, which is based on how a "reasonable" person would react to danger.
He will try to convince a judge that "he can't be charged according to the standards of the reasonable man," Maughan told "Dateline."
"You need to judge him as the reasonable paraplegic, and you need to take into account that this is a person who has persistently said that he's felt the most vulnerable on his stumps and was living, essentially, in a state of fear, in a state of terror.
"And you need to judge him by that standard."






DYLAN MARTINEZ / REUTERS, FILE
Oscar Pistorius starts his men's 400m round 1 heats at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
​


First published February 28th 2014, 4:31 am
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	


[h=1]TRACY CONNOR[/h] 


Tracy Connor is a senior writer for NBC News. She started this role in December, 2012. Connor is responsible... Expand Bio​
​


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## Bee (Mar 2, 2014)

It doesn't matter what anyone thinks of the U.K. laws they are absolutely nothing to with a trial taking place in South Africa.

You may think the U.K. laws are weak but I certainly wouldn't want to see the death sentence returned.


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## Gael (Mar 2, 2014)

Bee said:


> Could you please explain what a trial in South Africa has to do with the U.K.?????



Is it not part of the British Commonwealth? 
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/south-africa-returns-to-the-commonwealth-fold-1419686.html


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## Bee (Mar 2, 2014)

Being part of the Commonwealth has nothing to do with it, South Africa still have their own laws and jurisdiction and is nothing to do with the U.K. laws.


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## Gael (Mar 2, 2014)

Ina said:


> I lost faith in the legal system in 1993. The man that murdered my oldest son,ER, got to go for a plea bargain. No one ask our family what we thought should happen, or if we would even accept the bargain. There was no doubt who did what, there were at least 25 to 30 witnesses.  PLEA BARGAIN!!! What the h**l happened? Our family still does not understand, especially my grandchildren. Victims Services had just gotten started here, and they asked our whole family to be in court. The judge then verbally dressed us down, and then shamed my family about bringing ER's children to court. We had received written orders from the courts to show up. So I don't watch trials. :hiteachother:



So sorry Ina, little wonder you feel as you do. Justice is a hard commodity to come by in this world that's for sure.


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## Gael (Mar 2, 2014)

Bee said:


> Being part of the Commonwealth has nothing to do with it, South Africa still have their own laws and jurisdiction and is nothing to do with the U.K. laws.



Well thanks for the info. As an American living for a decade in NI which IS part of the UK I've had to learn the history of the UK,the Republic of Ireland and their laws and sometimes it's all a bit much. Always learning so thanks this is more info for me.


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## Gael (Mar 2, 2014)

Bee said:


> It doesn't matter what anyone thinks of the U.K. laws they are absolutely nothing to with a trial taking place in South Africa.
> 
> You may think the U.K. laws are weak but I certainly wouldn't want to see the death sentence returned.



A sore subject that I won't go into for people hold strong views. That and abortion are topics that get tempers rising.


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## Gael (Mar 2, 2014)

And it begins:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/video/jeremy-thompson-reports-courtroom-063018620.html

the geography of the court room:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/video/geography-pistorius-courtroom-061507171.html


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## Gael (Mar 3, 2014)

The neighbor heard screams:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-26418086

And this is interesting concerning S. Africa's laws which do not allow for juries:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21535387


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## Gael (Mar 3, 2014)

outh African lawyer Jay Surju says that, even in a high-profile case such as that of Mr Pistorius, investigators seem to have handled the case in a shambolic manner.
"The defence managed to show incompetence on the part of the police - that the lead investigator entered the crime scene without his feet covered; that not all the evidence was picked up," he said.
It all goes to reveal that the police forensic units in South Africa are not "up to scratch", he says.


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## That Guy (Mar 3, 2014)

Gael said:


> "The defence managed to show incompetence on the part of the police -


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## Gael (Mar 4, 2014)

Saw a review and audio of that first witness. The defence tried to pick her apart but she held firm. She was still traumatized by what she heard and it was damming for Pissy as I call him.


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## i_am_Lois (Mar 4, 2014)

I like watching high profile trials. 
I watched Casey Anthony's & Jodi Arias' trials.
I'll try to catch as much of this one as I can too.
I wish we could see James Holmes's trial, but the judge in that case is keeping everything so far under lock & key.
I hope they broadcast Isabella Guzman's trial.
When there are no real trials to watch I'm looking at Judge Judy & the old Law & Order shows.
By the way, if anyone wants to view the Pistorius trial's live stream coverage (on your computer) as it happens, here's a link:
http://www.wptv.com/oscar-pistorius-trial


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## Rainee (Mar 4, 2014)

Very intersting thanks for that link I am Lois.. its exactly what I`d like to see.. it will be interesting to see how this 
enfold and what the verdict and outcome will be.. and as for OJ Simpson will we ever get to the bottom of it ? seems 
to have dragged on and on for so long.. he would have to have a good memory of what he said in the first place.. you 
forget what you said if its lies.. lol.. thanks again for this interesting post..


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## Gael (Mar 4, 2014)

Rainee said:


> Very intersting thanks for that link I am Lois.. its exactly what I`d like to see.. it will be interesting to see how this
> enfold and what the verdict and outcome will be.. and as for OJ Simpson will we ever get to the bottom of it ? seems
> to have dragged on and on for so long.. he would have to have a good memory of what he said in the first place.. you
> forget what you said if its lies.. lol.. thanks again for this interesting post..



A liar has to have a good memory the saying goes.


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## Gael (Mar 4, 2014)

Great link Lois. I don't think it gets any better then that except if there is something especially noteworthy and worthy of review.


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## Fern (Mar 4, 2014)

For awhile there I was beginning to have doubts as to his guilt, but on hearing the evidence, no way, guilty as.


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