A Tel Aviv District Court made legal history Tuesday when it sentenced two Israelis to life imprisonment for a double homicide committed in the United States.
The trial was made possible by an amendment to the extradition laws under which a country that has the death penalty can waive extradition on the condition that the suspects face life sentences in Israel.
The three-judge panel that heard the case decided there was sufficient circumstantial evidence to convict Yair Orr and Nadav Nakan, former kibbutzniks, of murdering Jack and Carmen Hively, a wealthy California couple, four years ago.
The two Israelis, who went to the United States after completing their military service in the Israel Defense Force, were alleged to have accepted a “contract” from the couple’s son-in-law, who wanted to inherit their money. The couple lived in Montecito, a wealthy suburb of Santa Barbara.
Defense lawyers for Orr and Nakan said they would appeal the conviction to the High Court of Justice.
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