PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — The judge in Oscar Pistorius' murder trial appeared to be heading for a culpable homicide finding Thursday after ruling out both both premeditated murder and murder verdicts in the shooting death of the double-amputee Olympic athlete's girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. 
 
 Judge Thokozile Masipa reads notes as she delivers her verdict in the Oscar Pistorius murder trial, ,in Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Sept. 11 2014. The verdict is expected to take hours and possibly... (Associated Press) 
 
 Judge Thokozile Masipa reads notes as she delivers her verdict in the Oscar Pistorius murder trial, in Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Sept. 11 2014. The verdict is expected to take hours and possibly... (Associated Press) 
 
 Oscar Pistorius cries in the dock in Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014 as Judge Thokozile Masipa reads notes as she delivers her verdict in Pistorius' murder trial. The verdict is expected... (Associated Press) 
 
 Oscar Pistorius's brother Carl Pistorius, on a wheel chair, with relatives arrives at the high court in Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014. Presiding Judge Thokozile Masipa is expected to... (Associated Press) 
 
 Oscar Pistorius's defense lawyer Barry Roux arrives at court in Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2014. Pistorius could face 25 years to life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder. He... (Associated Press) 
 
 Barry Steenkamp, father of Reeva Steenkamp, arrives for the Oscar Pistorius murder trial at the high court in Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014. The judge in the Pistorius murder trial... (Associated Press) 
 
 Oscar Pistorius arrives at a court in Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2014. Judge Thokozile Masipa is to deliver a judgment. Pistorius could face 25 years to life in prison if convicted of... (Associated Press) 
 
 Oscar Pistorius arrives at court in Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2014. Judge Thokozile Masipa is to deliver a judgment. Pistorius could face 25 years to life in prison if convicted of premeditated... (Associated Press) 
 
 Oscar Pistorius stands in the dock in court in Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday Sept. 11, 2014 for judgement in his murder trail for the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's... (Associated Press) 
 
 Oscar Pistorius arrives at the high court in Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014. Presiding Judge Thokozile Masipa is expected to announce her verdict in Pistorius' murder trail after scrutinizing... (Associated Press) 
 
 Oscar Pistorius takes his seat in the dock court in Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday Sept. 11, 2014 for judgement in his murder trail for the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's... (Associated Press) 
 
 Oscar Pistorius, back right, sits in the dock in court in Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday Sept. 11, 2014. The judge in the Oscar Pistorius murder trial on Thursday read the reasoning behind her upcoming... (Associated Press) 
 
 Judge Thokozile Masipa said prosecutors have not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Pistorius, 27, is guilty of premeditated murder. 
 
 "Culpable homicide is a competent verdict," the judge said, but did not deliver any formal verdicts in the shooting death of Pistorius' 29-year-old girlfriend before calling for a lunch break in the proceedings. 
 
 Culpable homicide refers to a negligent killing. If Pistorius is formally acquitted of murder, he could still be sent to jail for years if it's found he acted negligently in Steenkamp's death. Pistorius has admitted firing the four shots that killed Steenkamp on Valentine's Day last year. 
 
 Pistorius says he mistook his girlfriend, a model and budding reality TV star, for an intruder and killed her accidentally. The prosecution alleges the athlete intentionally killed her after a loud argument, which was heard by neighbors. 
 
 Masipa was explaining her reasoning behind the upcoming verdicts in the case against Pistorius. Masipa said there were "just not enough facts" to support the finding of premeditated murder in Steenkamp's fatal shooting. 
 
 As the judge spoke, Pistorius wept quietly, his shoulders shaking as he sat on a wooden bench. 
 
 Masipa earlier told Pistorius he could remain seated on a wooden bench while she read her verdict out and until she asked him to stand. She then proceeded to explain her assessment of the testimonies of some of the 37 witnesses who testified. The process 
 
 Casting doubt on witness accounts of hearing a woman's screams, Masipa said "none of the witnesses had ever heard the accused cry or scream, let alone when he was anxious," apparently acknowledging the possibility that the defense argument that Pistorius had been screaming in a high-pitched voice after discovering he had fatally shot Steenkamp. 
 
 At one point, Masipa said: "I continue to explain why most witnesses got their facts wrong." 
 
 Masipa also said she was disregarding text messages between Steenkamp and Pistorius that had been entered as evidence. Prosecutors had submitted text messages that showed tension between them while the defense submitted messages that indicated mutual affection. That evidence, the judge said, doesn't prove anything. 
 
 "Normal relationships are dynamic and unpredictable most of the time, while human beings are fickle," she said. 
 
 Pistorius faced 25 years to life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder for fatally shooting Steenkamp in his home in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 14, 2013. He also faces years in jail if found guilty of murder without pre-planning, or of negligent killing. Pistorius could also be acquitted if Masipa believes he made a tragic error. 
 
 Pistorius has said he mistakenly shot Steenkamp through the closed door of a toilet cubicle, thinking there was an intruder in his home and pleaded not guilty to murder. 
 
 A key part of the prosecution's case was its assertion that Steenkamp screamed during a late-night alleged fight with Pistorius before he killed her. But Masipa said some of those witnesses who testified to hearing a woman scream in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 14, 2013 were "genuinely mistaken in what they heard, as the chronology will show." 
 
 That appeared to indicate that the defense had succeeded in raising doubts that Steenkamp ever screamed. The defense says the screaming was instead Pistorius, who was traumatized and desperately calling for help in a high-pitched voice after realizing he had shot Steenkamp in error. 
 
 Masipa also cited testimony of an acoustics expert called by the defense, saying it cast "serious doubt" on whether witnesses who were hundreds of meters (yards) away in their homes — as some state witnesses were — could have differentiated between the screams of a man or a woman. 
 
 Earlier, Masipa began by outlining in detail the four charges against the Olympic runner: Murder, two counts of unlawfully firing a gun in a public place in unrelated incidents and one count of illegal possession of ammunition. 
 
 Before the session began, Pistorius hugged his brother Carl, who was seated in a wheelchair because of injuries suffered in a recent car crash. 
 
 The parents of Steenkamp were also in the packed gallery. Other members of Pistorius' family, including his father Henke, sat behind him. 
 
 If Pistorius is convicted on any charge, the case will likely be postponed until a later sentencing hearing. 
 
 There were many journalists at the courthouse, where the sensational trial has unfolded over the last six months. ||||| Pretoria, South Africa (CNN) -- Oscar Pistorius did not commit murder the night he killed Reeva Steenkamp, a judge said Thursday. 
 
 He did not intend to kill her, Judge Thokozile Masipa said. 
 
 But his conduct was "negligent," she said before adjourning for the day, suggesting she will find the Olympian guilty of culpable homicide. 
 
 There is no minimum sentence for culpable homicide in South African law. It's up to the judge to decide. 
 
 As he fired four bullets into the bathroom of his home in Pretoria on Valentine's Day last year, he did not foresee the "possibility that he would kill the person behind the door, let alone the deceased, as he thought she was in the bedroom at the time," Masipa said. 
 
 Evidence suggests that Pistorius genuinely believed the person in the bathroom was an intruder, although that is irrelevant to the case, the judge said. 
 
 Pistorius could have taken other actions when he thought there was an intruder, she said. "All the accused had to do was to pick up his cell phone to call security or the police," she said. 
 
 "He could have run to the balcony and screamed in the same way he screamed after the incident," she added, noting that Pistorius called security after the incident and could have done so when he heard what he thought was an intruder. 
 
 Judge: Pistorius' background no excuse 
 
 Defense arguments that his upbringing "in a crime-riddled environment and in a home where the mother was paranoid and always carried a firearm" might explain his conduct that night, but "it does not excuse the conduct," Masipa said. 
 
 "The accused had reasonable time to reflect, to think and to conduct himself reasonably," she said. "I am not persuaded that a reasonable person with the accused's disabilities in the same circumstances would have fired four shots into that small toilet cubicle." 
 
 Following the country's legal standard for determining culpable homicide, Masipa found that "a reasonable person" would have "foreseen the reasonable possibility" that whoever was in the bathroom might have been killed, and would have "taken steps to guard against that possibility," she said. 
 
 "I am of the view that the accused acted too hastily and used excessive force," she said, adding that under the circumstances, "it is clear that his conduct was negligent." 
 
 Pistorius could be seen crying at times during the reading of the lengthy verdict. 
 
 The Olympian's trial in the death of his model and law graduate girlfriend started six months ago, transfixing the world with graphic details of how he fatally shot Steenkamp. 
 
 Before she rejected the premeditated murder charge, Masipa questioned why he fired "not one ... but four shots" into the bathroom before he went to find his girlfriend. 
 
 However, she said, the intention to shoot does not necessarily mean the intent to kill. 
 
 Judge: Pistorius knew right from wrong 
 
 "Court is satisfied that at the relevant time, the accused could distinguish between right and wrong," and act accordingly, she said. 
 
 Masipa cast doubt on witness testimony and said she believes media coverage contaminated testimonies. She doubted state witnesses, saying they were in and out of sleep the night of the killing. 
 
 "Technology is more reliable than human perception and human memory," she said. 
 
 She described the victim's wound as "immediately incapacitating" and said she believed a scream heard by witnesses the night of the killing was Pistorius,' not Steenkamp's. 
 
 The judge appeared to be accepting the defense timeline of events that the shots came first, then screaming that must have been Pistorius. 
 
 She knocked down some aspects of the state's case: the fact that Steenkamp took her phone and locked herself in the bathroom allegedly out of fear for her safety, phone messages between the couple that showed some rocky patches, and her stomach contents. 
 
 Barry and June Steenkamp sat expressionless a few rows behind the man on trial for killing their daughter. Her father bowed his head as he heard about his daughter's fatal wounds. 
 
 Pistorius' uncle, sister and brother also attended the hearing in the packed courtroom -- the latter in a wheelchair from a car accident. 
 
 Lesser charges 
 
 Pistorius also faces three weapons charges. 
 
 The most serious relates to ammunition found in his house when police searched it after the killing. He did not have a proper license for it, but he says he was storing it in his safe for his father. 
 
 If he is found guilty of the ammunition charge, he could face up to 15 years in prison, though the judge could opt for a lesser punishment such as a fine or the loss of his gun license. 
 
 Two other charges are related to allegations that he recklessly fired a gun in public -- once in a restaurant in 2012, and again out of the sunroof of a car last year. Pistorius denies both. 
 
 The maximum penalty for each charge is five years behind bars. If he is convicted of either, he could face a lesser sentence, such as a fine or the loss of his gun license. 
 
 READ: Triumph over adversity, until the fall 
 
 READ: Judge holds athlete's fate in her hands 
 
 CNN's Richard Greene reported from Pretoria; Faith Karimi and Josh Levs reported from Atlanta. CNN's Emily Smith contributed to this report. ||||| Oscar Pistorius wept in court as he was cleared of the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp - but a judge could still find him guilty of manslaughter. 
 
 Judge Thokozile Masipa told the court there was "no doubt" when Pistorius fired his gun "he acted unlawfully", and will rule on Friday whether he is guilty of the lesser charge - known as culpable homicide in South Africa - over the 29-year-old model's death. 
 
 At the end of Thursday's hearing she found the track star acted "negligently", "too hastily", used "excessive force" and failed to take steps to avoid the resultant death. 
 
 And she questioned why he called security after the shooting - but not before for help. 
 
 The athlete breaks down in court upon hearing the details of the shooting 
 
 She stopped short of giving an actual verdict on manslaughter - which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison - and dramatically adjourned proceedings. 
 
 Sky's Alex Crawford, who has been in the courtroom throughout the trial, said: "We are left sort of hanging - however, I feel she has given a fairly strong indication that she is heading towards culpable homicide because there appears to be no other option." 
 
 Play video "Inside The Oscar Pistorius House" Video: Inside The Oscar Pistorius House 
 
 Earlier, Judge Masipa cleared the world-renowned athlete of both premeditated and murder without premeditation. 
 
 She told the trial "there are not enough facts" to support the prosecution case that the athlete intended to kill Ms Steenkamp. 
 
 The judge said the charge of premeditated murder relied on "circumstantial evidence" from the State. 
 
 Play video "Profile: Who Is Oscar Pistorius?" Video: Profile: Who Is Oscar Pistorius? 
 
 "The State has not proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty of premeditated murder. There are just not enough facts to support such a finding," she said. 
 
 The verdicts came after she ripped into the athlete - the first amputee to run in both the Olympics and Paralympics - over his evidence, describing him as a "poor" witness who was initially composed, then "contradicted himself" under cross examination. 
 
 Pistorius was charged with one count of murder, two of illegally discharging a firearm - which is unrelated to the death of Ms Steenkamp - and one of illegally possessing ammunition. He pleaded not guilty to all the charges. 
 
 Play video "Pistorius: Not Premeditated Murder" Video: Pistorius: Not Premeditated Murder 
 
 The 27-year-old, his head down and shoulders shaking, was visibly distressed and sobbed in court as the judge recounted the events of Valentine's Day last year. 
 
 The prosecution had suggested he deliberately shot his girlfriend in a jealous rage and pushed for a verdict of premeditated murder which carried a sentence of 25 years in prison. 
 
 Pistorius insisted he shot Ms Steenkamp in a tragic accident, mistaking her for an intruder. 
 
 1 / 24 Gallery: Oscar Pistorius Learns His Fate Double-amputee athlete Oscar Pistorius is emotional in court as the judge reads the reasoning behind her verdict over the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp 
 
 South Africa has no jury system so Judge Masipa is deciding on the verdicts herself with the help of two assessors. 
 
 Proceedings kicked off with the judge outlining the facts of the case before the testimonies of each of the 37 witnesses who gave evidence at the six-month-long murder trial. 
 
 Ms Steenkamp's parents - June and Barry Steenkamp - looked on and listened intently to Judge Masipa from a packed public gallery.
– The judge in Oscar Pistorius' trial will not find him guilty of murder, but he could still be found guilty of lesser charges, including culpable homicide—the equivalent of manslaughter. As CNN puts it, "Under South African law, Pistorius will not be found guilty of 'murder.'" According to the AP: "The judge ... appeared to be heading for a culpable homicide finding." Judge Thokozile Masipa said the prosecution failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Pistorius is guilty of premeditated murder, then later said she also found that he is not guilty of intentionally killing Reeva Steenkamp, and finally said she did find him "negligent," which, as the AP notes, strengthens the possibility of a culpable homicide conviction. She then adjourned the trial until tomorrow. Masipa found that Pistorius could not have known the person he was shooting at behind the bathroom door would die, and she also said the evidence suggests he truly believed Steenkamp was still in the bedroom at the time and he was shooting at an intruder. She seemed to accept the defense's version of the timeline: First came the shots, then screaming that she said she believed was coming from Pistorius, not Steenkamp. If Pistorius is found guilty of culpable homicide, the judge can decide on sentence length; there is no minimum. He also faces three weapons charges, and Sky News reports that Masipa did say there is "no doubt" he "acted unlawfully" when firing.