A Moorpark professor has changed his guilty plea to the death of a Jewish man at a protest in Thousand Oaks. As a result, he was able to avoid spending time in state prison.
Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji is accused of hitting Paul Kessler in the head with a megaphone, causing him to fall and hit his head on the pavement at a protest in November 2023, according to the Ventura County district attorney’s office.
Alnaji had joined a rally at the corner of Westlake and Thousand Oaks boulevards in support of Palestine, while Kessler had attended as a pro-Israel protester. Kessler died the next day at the age of 69.
The tragic incident took place at the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war and became a flashpoint for the conflict as tensions between Israelis and Palestinians escalated across the country.
Alnaji initially denied all charges and allegations, and the case went forward.
But on Tuesday, the 53-year-old Moorpark resident recanted, pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and murder causing serious injury, prosecutors said. He also admitted that he had seriously injured himself, using a weapon and that the victim was in serious danger.
The maximum sentence for his charges is four years in state prison. However, the court ruled that, by changing his plea, Alnaji would likely be sentenced to up to 365 days in county jail, prosecutors said. In a county jail, a person serves time in your community, usually with opportunities for work release, electronic monitoring or early release.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 25, and he has not been arrested after posting $50,000 bail, prosecutors said.
Indications that Alnaji may avoid federal prison time have been met with pushback from the district attorney’s office and members of the Jewish community.
“Alnaji should be sentenced to prison for his violent behavior, and our office strongly opposes any lesser sentence,” said Dist. He said. Erik Nasarenko in a statement. “While no punishment will fully address the Kessler family’s loss, committing to prison reflects the seriousness of this crime and will deter others from committing similar acts of violence.”
Joshua Burt, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, called the sentence “sadly inadequate” and said he feared it would spark violence in the Jewish community.
“Without real, lasting consequences, men with bad intent or anger in their hearts will not be deterred from harming an already vulnerable community, the elderly and Jews alike,” Burt, who represents the ADL in Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties, said in a statement.
Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, said the Jewish community continues to mourn Kessler’s loss and welcomes “the acquittal of this heinous crime.”
“While we would have liked to receive a harsher sentence that better reflects the pain of the Kessler family, we respect the legal process,” Farkas said in a statement. “Our hope is that today’s news helps bring closure to his family and empowers our community to demonstrate safely.”
Major questions soon filled the aftermath of the horrific incident as witnesses from both sides of the protest gave conflicting statements about what led to Kessler’s fall and who the attacker was.
During the preliminary hearing, prosecutors presented DNA evidence that matched blood found on the rim of Alnaji’s and Kessler’s megaphones. The Ventura County medical examiner testified that Kessler died of blunt force trauma caused by the blast from the megaphone and subsequent fall to the pavement.
Although there was evidence of anti-Semitic speech at the protest, the district attorney’s office found no evidence that Alnaji participated in it and declined to file hate crime charges.
Kessler was a longtime member of Thousand Oaks’ Temple Etz Chaim and a liberal advocate who often penned his opinions in witty letters to the Thousand Oaks Acorn. He attended the demonstration carrying an Israeli flag in response to a neighbor’s call to show support for the state of Israel at the intersection that has become a gathering place for Free Palestine rallies.
“The tragedy of Paul Kessler’s death reaches many levels,” Farkas said Wednesday. “Not only was he the first Jew to die during the Israel-Hamas protests after October 7, but he did so while peacefully supporting his people.”
