According to a psychiatric assessment done in the course of his South African trial, Oscar Pistorius was not mentally ill when he shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp last year. Pistorius's trial was put on hold in May so that he could undergo the assessment.

The defense so far has argued that Pistorius suffers from general anxiety disorder, which causes him to be "hypervigilant" about perceived threats. Pistorius has strenuously maintained that he fired shots at his bathroom door in the early hours of February 14, 2013 because he believed there was at least one intruder in his home.

The court-ordered psychiatric assessment doesn't address Pistorius's disorder. The judge only asked psychiatrists to determine if Pistorius was "capable of appreciating the wrongfulness of his act or acting in accordance with appreciation of the wrongfulness of his act" when he opened fire. He was.

Pistorius faces 25 years in jail for premeditated murder, but if the defense is able to prove he didn't have premeditated intent to kill, he could serve a shorter sentence for culpable homicide.

[Image via AP]