Desperate times call for desperate measures, although yesterday’s last chance saloon attempt by Oscar to overturn his murder conviction really was a shot in the dark.

December was a rough month for Pistorius, the Supreme Court of Appeal judges finding him guilty of murdering Reeva Steenkamp. That verdict carries with it a minimum sentence of 15 years, although that can be reduced on the basis of being a first time offender who has already served time.

Here’s TimesLive with yesterday’s developments:

“We have lodged an application for leave to appeal to the Constitutional Court,” Andrew Fawcett, a lawyer on Pistorius’s legal team, said…

Legal papers filed at the Constitutional Court yesterday by Pistorius’s lawyers contended that the Supreme Court of Appeal had “acted unlawfully and unconstitutionally” by rejecting factual findings of the original verdict.

They also accused the court of making “errors of law” over the principle of dolus eventualis.

A few problems here, not least of which is the Supreme Court of Appeal judges finding his 2014 testimony “untruthful”. Then there is this from a local legal expert:

Tyron Maseko, a Johannesburg attorney, said: “He is wasting his time. It is certainly not a constitutional matter. If he ever succeeds then I will know there is no justice in this country.”

I think we’re on the same page there Tyron – if this ends in anything other than serious jail time for Oscar the world will watch on shaking their heads.

[source:timeslive]