A pro-Palestinian professorcharged with killing a 69-year-old Jewish dad during an anti-Israel protest in southern California in 2023 will not stand trial after he plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
The 54-year-old Moorpark residentLoay Abdel Fattah Alnaji pleadedguilty to felony involuntary manslaughter and felony battery causing serious bodily injury related to the death of Paul Kessler, theVentura County District Attorney’s officesaid in a press release on Tuesday.
Alnaji-who teaches computer science at Moorpark College-and Kessler were both protesting the Israel-Hamas war during dueling pro-Palestinian andpro-Israel demonstrations inThousand Oaks in 2023 when Alnajistruck the Jewish demonstrator in the headwith a megaphone.
The DA said the blow to the head caused Kessler to fall to the ground, where he then struck his head on the pavement, later dying from injuries he sustained in the clash.
In addition to pleading guilty, Alnaji admitted the “aggravating factors that he used a weapon and that the victim was particularly vulnerable” and that he had “personally inflicted great bodily injury to Kessler,” the DA noted.
Because Alnaji was not convicted he will likely get formal probation with up to a year behind bars, per the DA. He was facing up to four years in prison for the crime.
“Alnaji should be sentenced to prison for his violent behavior, and our office strongly objects to any lesser sentence,” Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said in a statement.
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“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.”
“Mr. Alnaji made a thoughtful decision today, one guided by his family’s well-being and a deep concern for community peace,” Alnaji’s attorney, Ron Bamieh, told The Post,
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
