This may have been the most long and drawn out bail decision ever. It went one way, then the other, for over an hour. It wasn't until the last 2 minutes you knew Oscar Pistorius was getting bail.

Here are the main points expressed by the judge in making his findings and rulings: [More...]

Court has begun in the final bail hearing for Oscar Pistorius. The prosecutor is finishing his closing argument. He complains Oscar submitted an affidavit instead of testifying. Magistrate Desmond Nair asks: "Is he not permitted to bring the application by affidavit?" Nel says: "Nobody can force him to, he makes an election." (The correct answer is "yes".) [More...]

Investigator Hilton Botha has been removed from the Oscar Pistorius case, but not suspended.

In court yesterday, the Judge questioned Botha about aspects of his testimony, but not the attempted murder charges against him. (See earlier post here.)

The new team of detectives will be led by "the country's top detective" Vinesh Moonoo. [More...]

At 11:00 a.m. SAT (2:00 am MT), defense lawyer Barry Roux and prosecutor Gerrie Nel will make their closing arguments as to why Oscar Pistorius should be allowed or refused bail.

Chief Magistrate Judge Desmond Nair will then make the decision. The big questions:

• Will Magistrate Nair reconsider his prior ruling on premeditation and reduce the charge to a class five offense from a class six, which has a lesser standard to meet for bail?
• If he stays with a class six offense, will he find exceptional circumstances for bail?
• If he reduces the charge to a class five offense, will he find the ends of justice require bail?

I predict Oscar Pistorius will be granted bail and the judge will find Oscar is not a flight risk or a significant danger to himself or the community. I do not think he'll conclude, as many have since Investigator Hilton Botha's confused and misleading testimony yesterday, that the prosecution's case is DOA. Nor do I think the revelation of reinstated attempted murder charges against Botha will have any impact on his bail ruling, although it may complicate things. [More...]

In the "you can't make this stuff up" department: Hilton Botha, the lead investigator in the Oscar Pistorius murder case who testified at yesterday's bail hearing, is himself charged with 7 counts of attempted murder resulting from a drunken spree with other officers. They are charged with opening fire on a mini-bus filled with passengers. They allegedly were drunk and in a state vehicle.

Botha and his co-defendant officers have a hearing in May. Charges were filed in 2011, dropped, and then reinstated, of all days, yesterday. (Update: Police management is now saying the charges were reinstated days before Reeva Steenkamp's killing and Oscar's arrest.)

A police spokesman today confirmed the charges and said Botha will remain on Oscar's case. [More...]

(For what happened earlier on Day Two of Oscar Pistorius’ bail hearing, see here. What happened on Day One is here.)

The hearing resumed after lunch around 1:35 pm, SAT, with continued cross examination of Investigator Hilton Botha by Defense Attorney Roux. Court adjourned around 2:40 pm. The Magistrate granted a request by the defense that Oscar continue to be held at the Brooklyn Police station instead of being moved to a prison.

Court will reconvene at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow to hear legal arguments. The Magistrate may render his decision after arguments.

See below for what's likely to happen tomorrow, followed by what happened in the final hour of today's hearing. [More....]

The bail hearing for Oscar Pistorius resumes at 9:00 am South Africa Time. (Midnight, MT). (Updates will be at the top instead of the bottom.) The journalists I am following today on Twitter who are the source of my updates: @BarryBateman (Eyewitness News);@BBCAndrewH; David Smith (The Guardian); @AlexCrawford (Sky News); @KarenMaughan (legal journalist).

Final Update 12:45 pm SAT: Court breaks for lunch unitl 1:30 pm. "We're in terrible trouble" a junior prosecution official says when leaving court. [More...]

Frontline is airing a special on Adam Lanza. Reading the advance press releases, I didn't see anything that hasn't been published elsewhere, but for those who haven't followed much about him and his family, it could be interesting. Also, the CT state police say yesterday's CBS report that Lanza was copying the Norway killer is non-factual and inaccurate.

Showtime has added the 3 hour documentary on the History of the Eagles to On Demand. I've seen it twice now, and it is really good, especially the second part.

Oscar Pistorius' bail hearing continues at 9:00 a.m. South Africa time, which is midnight here. I'll probably post live updates again of the first few hours.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Pot tourism may be coming to Colorado. The state's Marijuana Task Force today approved purchases at retail stores by out of state visitors. The quantity will be limited to reduce incentive for "smurfing" and resale on the black market.

The task force hearing minutes are here. [More...]

Judge Debra Nelson has issued this order setting final deadlines for the immunity hearing and trial of George Zimmerman.

Zimmerman's legal team released this statement saying that it raised $28,000. in the past three weeks and can now retain some experts. It needs much more, and soon, as the deadline for disclosing experts is March 27.

Also today, the judge in the Shellie Zimmerman perjury case denied a motion to dismiss alleging that State's Attorney Angela Corey lacked authority to prosecute the case: [More...]

The Supreme Court today issued its opinion in Florida v. Harris, ruling that extensive reliability evidence is not necessary for probable cause for a dog search. The opinion is here.

Justice Elena Kagan said the Florida court had gone too far, and suggested that proper training and certification of the dog — rather than how it has performed in the field — might be enough for law enforcement’s purposes.

[More...]

Update: The bail hearing is continued until tomorrow at 9:00 am (South Africa time). It will be live-streamed to an overflow courtroom for reporters. Prosecutors will provide the defense additional discovery. Both sides want to present more evidence.

Details: After the prosecution finished its argument and the parties debated premeditation, the judge stated he cannot rule out premediation and the bail hearing would proceed as a class six offense of premeditated murder, making the test for bail a showing of exceptional circumstances. But he also said he may change his mind after all the evidence is in and reduce it to a class five offense, which requires a lesser showing that bail is in the interests of justice.

The defense then presented its case. [More...]