Pistorius Wasn't Mentally Ill: Experts

Runner could appreciate 'wrongfulness of his act'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 30, 2014 1:21 AM CDT
Updated Jun 30, 2014 4:19 AM CDT
Pistorius Out of Psych Hospital, Back on Trial
Oscar Pistorius listens as a court ruling is handed down last month for him to undergo psychiatric evaluation in Pretoria, South Africa.    (AP Photo/Siphiwe Sibeko, Pool, File)

After a month-long break in the Oscar Pistorius trial for a mental health evaluation, the results are in: The South African runner wasn't mentally ill when he killed girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, a panel says. The chief prosecutor read the findings, the BBC reports: Pistorius "did not suffer from a mental illness or defect that would have rendered him criminally not responsible for the offense charged," the report said. The experts found that Pistorius was "capable of appreciating the wrongfulness of his act," prosecutor Gerrie Nel added, as the AP reports.

The report came as the trial resumed today after a month in which the runner spent every day at a government psychiatric hospital being evaluated for an anxiety disorder, NBC News notes. The athlete's trial was put on hold last month after a psychiatrist testified that he suffered from generalized anxiety disorder, which could have played a role in his shooting of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp last year. Pistorius' defense team, which says he accidentally killed Steenkamp in a state of panic after mistaking her for an intruder, is expected to wrap up its case within a few days of the trial resuming, per the BBC. (More Oscar Pistorius stories.)

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