Samuel Sheinbein

[3] The Washington Post wrote that it became "a sensational legal tug of war involving Congress, the State and Justice departments and the upper echelons of Israel's political and judicial establishments".

At age 17, Sheinbein informed a friend that he offered $5,000 for someone to kill the boyfriend of his crush and $1,000 for someone to lure his rival into a vehicle.

[4] Sheinbein sought someone to murder as practice for his intended target, according to the Montgomery County, Maryland Deputy State's Attorney, John McCarthy.

On a single sheet of notebook paper, Sheinbein wrote "'Zap, pepper, metal restraints, rainsuits ... X-Acto hobby knife, plastic bags' and other items".

The autopsy report concluded that the cause of death of the victim was "a combination of blunt force injuries to the head, cutting wounds on the neck and chest, and ligature strangulation".

[5] On 19 September 1997, a realtor was preparing the vacant home for a showing, and detected a strong odor coming from the garage.

Using police canines, authorities discovered a trail of blood leading from the scene of the body to the garage of the Sheinbein residence.

Police investigation of the missing-persons report revealed that Tello had told friends that he would meet them at the Plaza del Mercado shopping center in Silver Spring along with Needle and Sheinbein, but never showed up.

Needle was arrested on 23 September 1997, but he committed suicide in April 1998 two days before jury selection for the trial by hanging himself with a bedsheet.

Police found an apparent suicide letter to his family in his hotel room, and Sheinbein was placed in a psychiatric hospital.

[9] The U.S. Justice Department submitted an extradition request to Israel, and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright pressed for "maximum cooperation".

Sheinbein's family hired former Israeli Justice Minister David Libai to serve on his defense team.

In writing his dissenting opinion, Justice Aharon Barak, the President of the Israeli Supreme Court, wrote of this possibility.

In spite of this, Or wrote that it would have been ideal had Sheinbein been tried in the United States: "One can wonder if there is any justification for protecting someone from extradition when that person is not a resident and has no connection to Israel.

"[10] In a last-ditch effort to have him extradited, Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein submitted a request that a larger panel of Supreme Court justices reexamine the case.

On March 22, 1999, State Prosecutor Hadassah Naor indicted Sheinbein for murder with intent to kill in the Tel Aviv District Court.

Judge Uri Goren, president of the panel, stated that "we are dealing with a defendant who forced himself upon the Israeli judicial system," noting that Sheinbein had clearly manipulated a law that had been designed to prevent Jews from being handed over to antisemitic regimes.

In prison, Sheinbein worked in the wood shop and took university courses, eventually gaining a degree in computers.

At a hearing over the incident in March 2013, he claimed that another inmate had planted it there, and demanded that DNA samples from the weapon be tested and security camera footage of the hallway outside his cell be reviewed.

The first bill, which had been proposed prior and was unrelated to the Sheinbein affair, stipulated that a citizen must have a "residential connection" to Israel to avoid extradition.

[22][23] Israel and the United States also signed a protocol on July 6, 2005, providing for "reciprocal extradition of persons charged with or convicted of an offense, including an attempt or conspiracy to commit an offense, which is punishable under the laws in both Parties by deprivation of liberty for a period of one year or by more severe penalty".

[22] Legal analysts speculate that "Had the Sheinbein affair taken place today [in 2014], not being domiciled in Israel at the time he committed the offense, he would probably have been extradited" to the United States.

Robert eventually ended up settling permanently in Israel, where he married and had two children, while his sister Nathalie remained in the US.

[28] On 23 February 2014, Sheinbein called his attorney, Orit Hayoun, thanking her and telling her goodbye, and that she would hear of him shortly.

Fearing that he was about to commit suicide, she called prison authorities and the district attorney's office urging them to take action, but her concerns were dismissed.

[22] A writer for Tablet Magazine called the fact that Sheinbein was able to acquire a gun "the latest of several major IPS screw-ups".