07-02-2014, 09:46 AM
NEW DETAILS ABOUT THE MENTAL HEALTH EVAL -- DOES IT ACTUALLY HELP THE DEFENSE?
An independent panel of doctors said that Pistorius was, at the time he shot Steenkamp, not mentally ill or incapacitated in any way that would make him "criminally not responsible of the offenses charged."
The report added that "Mr. Pistorius was capable of appreciating the wrongfulness of his act."
BUT, today in court more of the report's contents were revealed...
The psychiatric report seemed to suggest that Pistorius's version of events was plausible.
"When Mr. Pistorius's appraisal of the situation is that he might be physically threatened, a fear response follows that might seem extraordinary when viewed from the perspective of a normal bodied person, but normal in the context of a disabled person with his history," the doctors found.
One of the questions Judge Thokozile Masipa must consider in determining her verdict is whether Pistorius behaved reasonably in the circumstances.
Several witnesses have testified that Pistorius tends to arm himself and go towards danger, rather than away from it, when he thinks he is under threat.
Full story: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/02/world/...?hpt=hp_t3
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IMO, Pistorius could just as easily be suicidal and depressed because he blew his short-fused stack and intentionally killed his lover, and/or because he's lost everything he'd worked for and is now viewed as a pariah.
An independent panel of doctors said that Pistorius was, at the time he shot Steenkamp, not mentally ill or incapacitated in any way that would make him "criminally not responsible of the offenses charged."
The report added that "Mr. Pistorius was capable of appreciating the wrongfulness of his act."
BUT, today in court more of the report's contents were revealed...
The psychiatric report seemed to suggest that Pistorius's version of events was plausible.
"When Mr. Pistorius's appraisal of the situation is that he might be physically threatened, a fear response follows that might seem extraordinary when viewed from the perspective of a normal bodied person, but normal in the context of a disabled person with his history," the doctors found.
One of the questions Judge Thokozile Masipa must consider in determining her verdict is whether Pistorius behaved reasonably in the circumstances.
Several witnesses have testified that Pistorius tends to arm himself and go towards danger, rather than away from it, when he thinks he is under threat.
Full story: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/02/world/...?hpt=hp_t3
================================
IMO, Pistorius could just as easily be suicidal and depressed because he blew his short-fused stack and intentionally killed his lover, and/or because he's lost everything he'd worked for and is now viewed as a pariah.