10 months prison for Pistorius "simply not enough"?
JOHANNESBURG -- Paralympic double-amputee track star Oscar Pistorius is set to be freed from a South African prison after just ten months for taking the life of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
CBS News correspondent Debora Patta says Steenkamp's parents June and Barry are devastated that Pistorius has served so little jail time.
The Steenkamps have said they've forgiven him for killing their "precious daughter," and in a written statement to the Parole Board added, "we do not seek to avenge her death and we do not want Mr. Pistorius to suffer; that will not bring her back to us."
But the bereaved parents added that, in their view, "incarceration of 10 months for taking a life is simply not enough."
The world famous Paralympian shot his glamorous model girlfriend on Valentine's Day in 2013. He was convicted of the equivalent of manslaughter and sentenced to five years in prison in 2014.
Now, South Africa's prison authorities have said he'll be released on August 21 and placed under house arrest.
Many people in South Africa think Pistorius' time on the world stage has granted him special treatment.
But Diane Bass, a criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles, disagrees.
"It's not like a murder case in the United States," she told CBS News. "It's very different."
"I don't think this is anything to do with his celebrity status. It has to do with the fact that the parole boards says that he has been behaving well and unless anything changes they are the ones recommending that he be released after 10 months," Bass said.
While in prison, Pistorius was shown playing soccer with a fellow inmate who is awaiting trial for murder. Leaked videos like that have made it look to some South Africans that prison life was just too easy.
But while Pistorius will be released from prison later this year, he won't be free.
"Unlike the United States, in South Africa the prosecution can actually appeal an acquittal in a homicide, and so it is very possible he could end up going back to prison for a minimum of 15 years," Bass explained.
A source told Patta that at the beginning of his sentence Pistorius was very tearful, but has since spent a lot of time praying and reading his bible.