Oscar Pistorius’ murder trial is scheduled to resume Monday after breaking for more than a month for Pistorius to undergo a mental evaluation.
“I anticipate that we are going to complete our evidence [when the trial resumes], so it will probably last for a couple of weeks,” Pistorius attorney Brian Webber told the South Africa Press Association.
On May 20, judge Thokozile Masipa ordered Pistorius to face up to 30 days of mental evaluation as an outpatient at a Pretoria, South Africa psychiatric hospital.
Three psychiatrists and one psychologist were to determine if Pistorius was criminally responsible for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013, taking into account that a psychiatrist diagnosed him with generalized anxiety disorder earlier in May.
The panel was to determine “whether he was capable of appreciating the wrongfulness of his act,” Masipa said in court May 20.
Pistorius, the first double amputee to run in the Olympics in 2012, said he thought an intruder was locked inside his bathroom when he shot four times through a locked door, hitting and killing girlfriend Steenkamp inside last year. He has not claimed he was mentally incapacitated at the time.
He faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder. If not found guilty of premeditated murder, Pistorius could be convicted of culpable homicide, South Africa’s version of manslaughter for negligent killing.
The trial began March 3 and was originally scheduled for a 17-day window.