South African double-leg amputee track star Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced to five years in prison, following a conviction of culpable homicide (Editor’s note: “Culpable homicide” is a South African legal term that has no direct equivalent in U.S. law. The closest equivalent is voluntary manslaughter, where the convicted is guilty of intent to harm but not necessarily to kill).
According to his defense team, Pistorius may only have to serve 10 months in prison before he serves house arrest. On September 12th, 2014, he was convicted of culpable homicide after he shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius was also given a three year suspended sentence for an unrelated firearms charge.
Pistorius, the first amputee to compete in the Olympics. is a four-time silver medal winner in able-bodied sports events and a 23-time gold medal winner in disabled sports events. Off the track, he was the recipient of the 2009 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Hellen Rollason award, and made the Time 100 as one of Time Magazine’s list of most influential people in the world in 2008.
The International Paralympics Committee has stated Pistorius will not be able to compete until 2019, regardless of whether he is granted early release.
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