Court convicts Daniel Maoz of brutal double murder of parents

Maoz maintains his innocence, blames twin brother for murders; DNA evidence leads to conviction; sentence is 2 life terms.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Daniel maoz lead by police 370 (photo credit: Emil Salman)
Daniel maoz lead by police 370
(photo credit: Emil Salman)
Bringing an end to a murder trial that transfixed the country, a court convicted Daniel Maoz on Monday of the brutal double murder of both of his parents, Noah and Nurit Maoz, to use his inheritance money to pay off large gambling debts.
Only a few hours after the conviction, the court handed down his sentence of two terms of life in prison.
“The land and the sky cry out for the blood of the parents was poured out in incomparable cruelty by their son,” the court said, adding that the crime fit into the category of worst horror movies, but was worse because “it actually happened.”
Daniel had admitted to having a severe gambling addiction, but had rejected the accusation that he murdered his parents, stabbing each of them dozens of times and then trying to cover up the murders, in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem in August 2011.
Daniel was arrested less than a month after the murders, after police uncovered a number of suspicious behaviors, including him showing up at a friend’s apartment disheveled, nervous, and covered with splatters of blood the night of the murder.
DNA evidence placed Daniel at the scene of the murders, but, in a surreal twist, Daniel accused his twin brother, Nir Maoz, of carrying out the murder, as they share similar DNA.
Daniel was indicted in September 2011.
“The defendant did not express regret for his actions and tried to harm the good name of his twin brother – a story that we reject completely,” the court said.
In response to the court’s verdict, Daniel said “I did not kill my parents, of blessed memory” and “the murderer is here in the courtroom,” implying that he still accused his brother Nir of the crime.
During the trial, Daniel testified that he cleaned the site of his parents’ murder, but didn’t call the police or an ambulance because he was afraid his brother would kill him.
“Four years ago I stole $3,000 from my parents,” Daniel said. “I told them the next day that I was held up by criminals. I lied to them, and I am ashamed of my actions. The next day I confessed the truth, and I told them all about my gambling addiction.”
At one point in the trial Daniel began a hunger strike in protest of the refusal of the Prisons Service to allow him to visit his parents’ graves in the Har Hamenuhot cemetary in Jerusalem. Later, after Maoz’s cellmate, Roni Ben-Arbon, gave the court evidence against him, Maoz’s lawyer tried to attack the cellmate’s credibility by showing the court graphic videos from the cellmate’s cellphone.
Ben-Arbon was also accused of conspiring with Daniel to throw the police off his trail by sending them an anonymous letter from an “eye witness” that saw Nir leave his parents’ house at 11 p.m. on the night of the murder after hearing loud screaming.