Israel Matzav

Police kill American prisoner

34-year old Samuel Sheinbein was killed today in Israel's Rimonim prison after he grabbed a gun and shot three prison workers, before holing himself up in a cell.

If the name Sheinbein sounds familiar, it should. Samuel Sheinbein fled to Israel in 1997 after allegedly committing a murder in the Washington DC area. While Israel's Supreme Court refused to extradite him in light of the law that was then in effect (and has since been changed), Sheinbein was put on trial for the murder here, and was convicted in 1999 and sentenced to 24 years in prison. Now, he is dead.

The convict was Samuel Sheinbein, an American Jew who was charged with killing Hispanic teenager Enrique Tello Jr. in September 1997.

The prisoner did not hold any hostages.

The Israel Prison Service said that they do not yet know how the prisoner, aged 34, got his hands on the firearm. 

Sheinbein fled to Israel following the 1997 murder and claimed that he was an Israeli citizen because his father had lived in Israel and was an Israeli citizen. Despite shrill protests from the US and after a dramatic court battle, Sheinbein's strategy succeeded. Israel's Supreme Court rejected the US extradition request in accordance with the law at the time. It was a Pyrrhic victory for Sheinbein, however, since an Israeli court sentenced him to 24 years for murder.

The IPS said that the incident began Sunday while Sheinbein was being moved to a different block by prison staff and asked to go to the bathroom. In the bathroom he fired at the guards, wounding one seriously and two moderately. 

If I'm not mistaken, Sheinbein would have been eligible for parole in a year, although given that he tried to steal a gun the last time he was out on furlough, I doubt that parole would have been granted. I cannot help but wonder what motivated him to try this kind of stunt....

UPDATE 7:10 PM

Lots of details on the gruesome murder Sheinbein committed here. 

Labels: crime

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:47 PM