The Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday convicted the "Jewish Terrorist" Jack Teitel of murdering two Palestinians and an assortment of other crimes between 1997 and 2008.
Crucially, the court found that Teitel was not insane and was "responsible for his actions," which make it more likely that he will get a maximum life sentence.
In May, the court had accepted an unusual plea bargain made between the district attorney and lawyers representing Teitel, and determined that the defendant had murdered two Palestinians and committed other violent crimes.
Judges Zvi Segal, Moshe Hacohen and Moshe Yair Drori said that the court determined that Teitel committed the acts attributed to him in an amended indictment.
The amended indictment includes 10 of the original 14 charges against Teitel, including two murders and two attempted murders, after the prosecution agreed to remove charges relating to attempted attacks that the authorities had foiled and general language about Teitel's hatred for those disagreeing or different from him being the motivator for his crimes.
The court did not formally convict Teitel until Wednesday to carefully review whether he could be held criminally responsible for his actions when he committed the offenses.
Although he agreed to admit to the charges, Teitel refused to come and admit the charges directly to the court in-person because he does not recognize its authority.
Instead, in a highly unusual procedure that required special court approval, Teitel’s attorney Asher Ohayon told the court that Teitel admitted to the charges in the amended indictment.
Courts normally require an accused to admit to an offense in-person as a safeguard to the rights of an accused to make sure that the accused has not been coerced or is confused about what they are admitting to.