Israeli Judge Sentences U.S. Teen

TEL AVIV —  Calling the murder and dismemberment of a Maryland teenager “an act of desecration,” an Israeli judge Sunday ended a lengthy and painful episode in Israeli-U.S. relations by sentencing Samuel Sheinbein to 24 years in prison.

Sheinbein, 19, hands behind his back, did not react as the verdict was read two years after he fled to Israel and successfully sought refuge from extradition, enraging Maryland authorities and briefly threatening U.S. aid to the Jewish state.

Judge Uri Goren’s sentence was not a surprise; lawyers for Sheinbein and the Israeli prosecution had arrived at the plea bargain in August.

Sheinbein will be eligible for parole after two-thirds of his sentence is served. He may also be eligible for 24-hour furloughs in four years. The sentence was backdated to 1997.

Sheinbein confessed to choking Alfred Tello Jr., 19, with a rope and hitting him with a sharp object--actions that caused his death. Sheinbein then dismembered the body with an electric saw and burned it.