Two Israeli youths were convicted of last year's murder of 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir by a Jerusalem court on Monday while delaying the verdict for the ringleader, Yosef Haim Ben David, following an 11th-hour insanity plea.
Abu Khedir, a Palestinian from Shuafat in east Jerusalem, was abducted from a sidewalk outside a mosque on July 2, 2014 and taken to a car driven by Ben David, 31, court records indicate, according to the Associated Press.
The judge determined that the two accomplices, whose names were not released, beat Abu Khdeir unconscious in the car while on the way to a forest where he was burned alive.
The killing was allegedly for revenge following the infamous murder of three Jewish teenagers in the West Bank in June of 2014, which set off a chain of events that led to the 50-day Gaza war, according to the Canada Journal.
The three were arrested shortly after the killing, but the trial hadn't been made public. At the time, news coverage of the slaying led to Arab riots throughout the area.
It was expected prior to the trial that Ben David would be convicted alongside the two minors, who admitted to the kidnapping but denied being responsible for the murder, since throughout the trial, he claimed insanity but never had documents to prove it. However, at the last minute, Ben David's defense produced to the court an insanity plea psychiatric opinion.
Normal legal procedures dictate that such conduct would be allowed since Ben David hadn't been convicted yet, however the court would examine the opinion separately later in December, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Prosecutor Uri Korb objected to the decision, arguing that he was in favor of reviewing the issue at an earlier stage, but it's too late now since the trial was closed and the court had already drafted its verdict with only a few days before announcing it.
Abu Khdeir's father, Hussein, mirrored Korb's opinion saying: "This is a lie. I am afraid that the court will release them (suspects) in the end."
The two convicted minors will be sentenced in mid-January. There is no schedule for Ben David pending the court's review of the psychiatric opinion of his insanity plea.
