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.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
