Supreme Court Justice Alex Stein on Sunday morning rejected the State’s appeal and ordered the release to house arrest of the minor who was accused of throwing the stone that killed Aisha al-Rabi near Tapuah junction.
Honenu legal aid society attorney Adi Keidar, who represents the accused minor together with attorney Ariel Atari, welcomed the decision, stating: “The Supreme Court rejected the state’s appeal and ordered the minor’s release. We welcome the decision, The Supreme Court accepted the defense position while passing a message to the State Prosecutor’s Office, according to which the defendant enjoys the presumption of innocence. We welcome the decision of the court as stated, and now we will conduct the minor’s defense until he is completely acquitted of the charges.”
According to the defense, Dr. Chen Kugel, head of the Institute of Forensic Medicine, said it was not appropriate to file the indictment against the in the first place, since the death of the deceased was not caused by a stone.
On Thursday, Justice Stein heard the appeal, and on Sunday morning published his ruling which rejected it, and ordered that the minor be released under conditions determined by the District Court: house arrest under electronic controls, the signatures of two guarantors, and a 35,000 shekel (roughly $10,000) bail in cash.
Justice Stein wrote in his ruling that the minor’s lawyers, who argued that the evidence against him did not meet the level of prima facie (initial) evidence in a criminal proceeding, later retracted their argument in court, but continued to argue that the strength of the evidence against their client is very low.
Justice Stein, who was appointed by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked in 2018, is considered the most conservative supreme court justice serving today, and is dedicated to reversing the rampant activism of the court.