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Pistorius Appeals Murder Conviction in S. Africa's Top Court


Oscar Pistorius pauses in the dock at the High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, Dec. 8, 2015.
Oscar Pistorius pauses in the dock at the High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, Dec. 8, 2015.

South African paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius has appealed to the country's Constitutional Court in a last-ditch attempt to overturn his murder conviction for killing his girlfriend in 2013.

A lawyer on Pistorius's legal team, Andrew Fawcett, told the French news service "an application for leave to appeal to the Constitutional Court" has been lodged.

Pistorius has been out on bail awaiting a new sentence since early last month, when judges found him guilty of murder, overturning his earlier conviction on the lesser charge of manslaugher for the fatal shooting of Reeva Steenkamp.

Under the new murder conviction, he faces a minimum 15-year jail term that may be reduced due to time already spent in jail and the fact that he is a first-time offender.

Pistorius was released from jail in October to live under house arrest at his uncle's house in Pretoria after serving one year of his five-year prison sentence for culpable homicide, the equivalent of manslaughter.

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