Oscar Pistorius denied murder conviction appeal

South Africa's Constitutional Court has refused Oscar Pistorius' request to appeal his murder conviction in the 2013 death of his girlfriend, a representative of his legal team told CNN on Thursday, clearing the way for an April sentencing. The decision comes two months after a different court overturned his 2014 conviction of culpable homicide and instead found him guilty of murder. The Constitutional Court refused Pistorius' application to appeal the December ruling, saying that his appeal would have no realistic prospect of success, the legal team representative said. Pistorius is scheduled to be resentenced on April 18. He faces up to 15 years in prison.
The double-amputee sprinter initially was sentenced to five years in prison for culpable homicide. He served a year of that sentence in prison before being transferred to house detention. After South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal overturned the initial conviction and found him guilty of murder in December, he was released on bail, with the stipulation that he wear an electronic monitoring device and travel only a limited distance from home between 7 a.m. and noon.