SoCal professor may avoid prison time in death of Jewish protester

A Moorpark professor has changed his plea to guilty in the death of a Jewish man at a protest in Thousand Oaks. As a result, he could avoid spending time in state prison.

Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji was accused of hitting Paul Kessler on the head with a megaphone, causing him to fall and strike his head on the pavement at a protest in November 2023, according to the Ventura County district attorney’s office.

Alnaji had joined the rally on the corner of Westlake and Thousand Oaks boulevards in support of Palestine, while Kessler had attended as a a counter-protester in support of Israel. Kessler died the following day at age 69.

The tragic incident took place around the outset of the Israel-Hamas war and became a lightning rod for controversy as tensions between supporters of Israel and Palestine soared across the nation.

Alnaji initially pleaded not guilty to all counts and allegations, and the case was set to proceed to trial.

But on Tuesday, the 53-year-old Moorpark resident reversed course, pleading guilty to felony involuntary manslaughter and felony battery causing serious bodily injury, prosecutors said. He also admitted to personally inflicting great bodily injury, using a weapon and that the victim was particularly vulnerable.

The maximum sentence for his charges is four years in state prison. However, the court has indicated that, by changing his plea, Alnaji will likely be sentenced to probation with the possibility of up to 365 days in county jail, prosecutors said. In county jail, a person serves time locally, often with possibilities for work release, electronic monitoring or early release.

His sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 25, and he remains out of custody after posting $50,000 bail, prosecutors said.

The indication that Alnaji may avoid state prison time has 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 objects to any lesser sentence,” said Dist. Atty. Erik Nasarenko in a statement. “While no amount of punishment will ever fully account for the Kessler family loss, a prison commitment underscores the severity of this crime and will deter others from committing similar acts of violence.”

Joshua Burt, a regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, called the suggested sentence “woefully inadequate” and said he feared it would embolden violence against the Jewish community.

“Without real, lasting consequences, men with evil intent or anger in their hearts will not be deterred from harming an already vulnerable community, elderly and Jewish alike,” said Burt, who represents the ADL in Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties, in a statement.

Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and chief executive of the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, said that the Jewish community continued to mourn Kessler’s loss and welcomed “the admission of guilt for this heinous crime.”

“While we would have liked 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 gives our community the ability to demonstrate safely.”

Major questions swirled in the immediate aftermath of the fatal encounter as witnesses from both sides of the protest gave conflicting statements about what led to Kessler’s fall and who the aggressor was.

During a preliminary hearing, prosecutors presented DNA evidence matching blood found on the rim of Alnaji’s megaphone to that of Kessler. A Ventura County medical examiner testified that Kessler died from blunt force trauma caused by the blow from the megaphone and the subsequent fall to the pavement.

Although there was evidence of antisemitic speech at the protest, the district attorney’s office did not find evidence that Alnaji had participated in this and declined to file hate crime charges.

Kessler was a longtime member of Thousand Oaks’ Temple Etz Chaim and an advocate for liberal causes who often penned his opinions in witty letters to the Thousand Oaks Acorn. He had attended the protest carrying an Israeli flag in response to a call from a neighbor to show support for the state of Israel at an intersection that had become a gathering point 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 protest movement after October 7th, but he did so while peacefully supporting his people.”