PRETORIA, South Africa - The murder trial of Oscar Pistorius, set to open Monday, marks the start of a dramatic new chapter in the life of the double-amputee athlete who ran at the Olympics and became a global star before he shot his girlfriend to death. Lawrence Taylor Jersey . Prosecutors charged the 27-year-old Pistorius with murder in Reeva Steenkamps death and say it was with premeditation. They say they will seek a life sentence if Pistorius is convicted, the sternest punishment available in South Africa. South Africa no longer has the death penalty. The intense public interest in the Pistorius trial is shown by the launching Sunday night of a 24-hour cable channel devoted to covering the court case. If convicted on the murder charge, Pistorius could be sent to prison for at least 25 years before the chance of parole, the minimum time someone must serve if given a life sentence in South Africa. He would be older than 50 before he could be released. The state says Pistorius intentionally killed Steenkamp at his home in the pre-dawn hours of Valentines Day last year by shooting her through a toilet door after an argument. Pistorius denies murder and says he killed his girlfriend by mistake when he fired four times through the door thinking there was a dangerous nighttime intruder on the other side. A lesser sentence is possible if Pistorius is found guilty of murder but without premeditation. He also could be convicted of culpable homicide, South Africas version of manslaughter in which someone is killed through negligence. Pistorius claims he was acting in self-defence against what he believed at the time was a threat to his life. As well as murder, Pistorius faces a second charge of illegal possession of ammunition for bullets found at his Pretoria house that he allegedly didnt have proper licensing for. Prosecutors say he also will be indicted Monday with two more gun charges relating to him allegedly shooting in public on two separate occasions before Steenkamps killing. The serving of an updated indictment to Pistorius in court is expected to be the first move at the trial at Pretorias high court. He has not yet been formally served with the papers that include all four charges against him, although his lawyers have had the papers and details of the additional gun charges since last year, prosecutors say. The gun charges reportedly relate to him allegedly shooting out the sunroof of a car in one incident and another when he allegedly fired a gun inside a restaurant, apparently by mistake. Those incidents happened in the court jurisdiction of the city of Johannesburg, not where Steenkamp was killed in Pretoria, and prosecutors applied to have the two charges included and heard at his murder trial. Female judge Thokozile Masipa will ultimately pronounce the champion runner innocent or guilty and will decide on any sentence. South Africa has no trial by jury. Parts of the trial will be broadcast on live television, both in South Africa and across the world, and hundreds of reporters are expected to descend on North Gauteng High Court in the South African capital for the start of the trial. The 24-hour cable channel devoted solely to the trial will continue until the case is finished. The trial will deal with the bloody killing of a 29-year-old model and law graduate, but also the issue of gun ownership and South Africas problem of violent crime, which Pistorius says was the reason why he kept his licensed 9 mm handgun under his bed. Pistorius says his fear of crime was why he fired four shots through the door, hitting Steenkamp three times — in the head, elbow and hip. Prosecutors maintain he was simply angry with her after an argument. Members of Pistorius family will likely attend the trial, as they did on his previous court hearings. His uncle, Arnold Pistorius, sister Aimee and brother Carl are all also listed as state witnesses. "We love Oscar, and believe in him, and will be standing by him throughout the coming trial," Arnold Pistorius said in a statement over the weekend. For the first time, members of Steenkamps family will also be in the courtroom according to a family statement that her mother June and others would be at the trial. The parents and close relatives of Steenkamp did not attend any of Pistorius previous court appearances. "All we are looking for is closure and to know that our daughter did not suffer on that tragic Valentines Day," Steenkamps parents said in a statement this month and days before the one-year anniversary of the shooting that stunned South Africa. Spencer Pulley Jersey . Cilic cruised to victory, beating the seventh-seeded Seppi 6-1, 6-3 in just 72 minutes. He faced only one break point, winning 24 out of 29 points played on the first serve. Michael Strahan Jersey .J. - The New York Jets have signed former Green Bay Packers backup quarterback Graham Harrell, giving them some added depth at the position. http://www.cheapgiantsjerseysonline.com/?tag=saquon-barkley-jersey-online . -- Houstons All-Star tandem of James Harden and Dwight Howard refused to let the Rockets give in to fatigue.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hi Kerry, Thanks for your time, even if this doesnt make it to the site, Id love to hear your opinion on this: In the second period during the Blues-Sabres game on Tuesday, the Sabres took exception to a hit at the whistle on Tyler Ennis by Ian Cole. I admit Cole sometimes acts before he thinks but I think this was a clean play, it just looked violent because Cole has 50 pounds on him and the boards broke his fall! The referees arms didnt go up signaling a penalty. As expected, the Sabres took it in their own hands and started a scrum to even the score. I have no problem with that. What I have a problem with is the referees tack on a roughing minor to Ian Cole after the melee? What warranted the penalty call? The fights? I dont see how if it wasnt a penalty before the fight, its a penalty after the fight? Buffalo retaliated, score settled. It seemed futile at that point. And to make matters worse, to start the third period, Buffalos Cody McCormick starts a fight with Alex Steen and Steen gets a double-minor for roughing giving the Sabres a power play. Why? If any extra minor should be called, it should be on McCormick for instigating or roughing! Can you tell me what these referees were thinking? If there is a valid explanation, maybe it will help me stay calm next time? Thank you, Josh Bartlett ----- Josh, I thank you for your question and congratulate you for making it to the Cmon Ref site! Unfortunately there really isnt a valid explanation as why to why the St. Louis Blues received an extra minor penalty in either of these altercations; especially in the second dust-up that was initiated just 17 seconds into the third period by Cody McCormick and Marcus Foligno. None of us can ever know what the refs were actually thinking but let me provide my perspective based on the referees position, focus and their reactions (or lack thereof) to what was taking place in the moment. On the first play in question, at 13:11 of the 2nd period, Ian Cole was in the act of finishing a check on Tyler Ennis after the Buffalo youngster shot the puck. The contact, delivered at the goal line, was more of a shove than a solid body check but caused Ennis to lose his balance and fall awkwardly into the end boards. Based on a resulting degree of awkwardness or violence that a player is shoved, hit or falls into the boards, I have seen occasions when a minor penalty has been assessed; more on the result than the act itself. Referee Gord Dwyer was very close to the incident; so close in fact that when Ennis fell into the boards, his stick blade whacked the referee in the knee. If there was any initial thought process by the referee to raise his arm and assess a penalty to Cole, which I very much doubt, we will never know. Instead of raising his non-whistle hand to signal a penalty, Dwyer used the hand to grab his right knee and expressed a grimacing look of pain on his face. Since we dont know the referees intent beyond the fact that neither of them raised an arm to signal an infraction, it is more probable to sspeculate that the minor penalty assessed to Cole was determined through the conference of officials in the aftermath of the scrum and fights. Mario Edwards Jr. Jersey. While it might not have appeared to be worthy of a penalty in the refs mind initially, I can understand that he might have reflected on how hard Ennis struck the end boards and then changed his mind. Im relatively okay with his prerogative to change his mind. What Im not okay with is the solid pop that Ennis delivered to the face of Ian Cole as he was being engaged by the Buffalo cavalry and in clear view of the referee that went unpenalized. The shot delivered by Ennis on Cole caused Alexander Steen to grab Ennis and resulted in their fight. If Cole was to be assessed a late minor in hindsight or otherwise, then Ennis also deserved a roughing minor. My personal preference is to see a minor penalty imposed against any player who leads the cavalry charge following a hit on one of his teammates; legal or otherwise! Too often, we see a player have to defend himself when he administered a perfectly legal but hard check. The double minor penalty assessed to Steen is beyond confusing to me. In my first season in the NHL, linesman John DAmico gave me a piece of great advice that stuck with me forever. John told me to know what players are on the ice at all times, whether they change on the fly or during a stoppage. John also said that just because the puck isnt moving, that doesnt mean that your eyes and your brain stop moving as well. Once play stopped, John advised me it was time to turn up the radar because things can happen and you dont want to be caught off guard! I never forgot that great advice offered by the future Hall of Famer. At the first stoppage of play, 17 seconds into the 3rd period, Steen came onto the ice with his line for an end zone face-off. On their way to the Sabres players bench, Cody McCormick and Marcus Foligno took a route that allowed them to shove and engage Steen in obvious retribution for his previous fight with Ennis. In this moment, referee Mike Leggo can be seen standing near centre ice, facing the players bench with his arm raised to signal the line change has been completed and could not have possibly witnessed what initiated the altercation. Referee Dwyer is off camera but would have been standing on the goal line on the players bench side of the ice. Given the penalty assessment, referee Dwyer must have been preoccupied and not dialed in to the flow of players coming and going. Once the altercation started, St. Louis had one extra player on the ice as a result of the change and referee Leggo can be seen waving Alex Pietrangelo back toward the St. Louis bench. Steen handled himself very well in containing McCormick during their wrestling match. So well perhaps, that the referees, not seeing who started the altercation, might have assessed Steen an extra two minutes as the aggressor. If either of the referees had enjoyed the benefit of working with John DAmico early in their career, I would suspect that McCormick would have been assessed an extra minor for roughing and quite possibly a misconduct penalty as the instigator of the altercation. That would have been just. 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