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Oscar Pistorius’ defense calls in U.S. forensic experts for trial

Oscar Pistorius

FILE In this file photo taken Monday, Aug. 19, 2013 double-amputee Olympian Oscar Pistorius, at the magistrates court in Pretoria, South Africa, when Pistorius was indicted on charges of murder and illegal possession of ammunition for the shooting death of his girlfriend on Valentine’s Day. Oscar Pistorius’ lawyers are working with a team of American forensic specialists to help prepare the double-amputee Olympian’s defense, and likely counter any evidence given by the nearly 50 police officers and criminal experts that prosecutors could call at his murder trial early next year. The U.S. forensic team is now in South Africa, Pistorius’ spokeswoman told The Associated Press on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013, although she could not give any details of their identities or areas of expertise, or if they would stay for the trial, which begins in March and has been scheduled to last just over two weeks. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)

AP

Oscar Pistorius is getting help from the U.S. in preparation for his murder trial in March.

A team of American forensic investigators is working with the South African double-amputee sprinter’s defense team, according to reports.

“It’s very standard practice to work with experts during the preparation of any trial,” Pistorius spokeswoman Anneliese Burgess told the South Africa Press Association on Tuesday.

Burgess said the forensic experts arrived at the house where Pistorius was staying Monday, but she did not go into any more detail.

Pistorius, 26, shot and killed girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the early morning hours of Valentine’s Day at his Pretoria home. He argued that he thought Steenkamp was an intruder locked in his bathroom. He was indicted on a murder charge in August, and there have been reports his lawyers were in settlement talks with the Steenkamps.

Burgess told The Associated Press that Pistorius has done little else than focus on the trial since his last court appearance Aug. 19.

“Nothing much has changed,” Burgess told the AP. “Oscar is preparing for the trial. That’s the focus and that’s the focus of everybody around him, too.”

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