South African parole board delays Oscar Pistorius' prison release

October 21, 2014 - South African Olympic and Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius is escorted to a police van after his sentencing in Pretoria. (REUTERS)

A South African parole review board has said Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius—convicted in 2014 of culpable homicide in the death of his girlfriend—must stay in prison for now, legal sources say.

Two legal sources tell Fox News that Pistorius’ lawyer, Brian Webber, has been informed that the board has set aside an earlier decision to release the former gold medalist before his murder appeal next month.

The review is expected to take weeks, and likely means that Pistorius won’t be released before his murder appeal hearing on Nov. 3.

Pistorius was expected to begin his house arrest in August after serving 10 months of his five year sentence. South African Justice Minister Michael Masutha blocked his release, saying procedure had not been followed, Reuters reported.

Pistorius admitting killing his girlfriend, law school graduate and model Reeva Steenkamp, 29, in February 2013 by firing a gun at the locked door of a bathroom in their home. He said he believed there was an intruder in the bathroom when he fired four shots, killing Steenkamp.

In a closely watched trial last year, the runner was convicted of culpable homicide—the equivalent of manslaughter—but not murder. He was sentenced to five years in prison. During sentencing, South African Judge Thokozile Masipa said the state had failed to prove Pistorius intended to kill when he fired his gun.

South African state prosecutors are expected to argue at the appeal hearing that Pistorius should have been convicted of murder. They want the verdict changed to murder, saying shooting his gun through the door when he knew someone was in the bathroom meant Pistorius intended to kill, regardless of the victim.

Pistorius could be facing a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison if convicted of the more serious murder charge.

A panel of five judges will hear the appeal. The panel could either reject the prosecution's appeal, order a retrial, or convict Pistorius of murder themselves, legal experts say.

Fox News’ Paul Tilsley in South Africa contributed to this report.