College professor pleads not guilty to all charges related to Jewish protester’s death
The college professor accused of causing a Jewish man’s death during dueling protests over the Israel-Hamas war in Thousand Oaks last year has pleaded not guilty.
Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji, 51, of Moorpark is accused of striking Paul Kessler, 69, with a megaphone at a protest at Thousand Oaks and Westlake boulevards on Nov. 5, 2023, causing Kessler to fall and hit his head on the sidewalk.
Kessler later died from injuries sustained during the confrontation, according to Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko.
College professor arrested in Jewish demonstrator’s death
Alnaji pleaded not guilty to all charges on Monday.
“Alnaji is charged with felony involuntary manslaughter, felony battery causing serious bodily injury, and the special allegation that he personally inflicted great bodily injury,” Nasarenko’s office said in a news release.
During a two-day preliminary hearing in May, prosecutors presented a DNA analysis of blood found on the megaphone Alnaji was carrying, which, they say, matched Kessler. They also presented video and audio from Kessler’s phone showing the moments before he was injured.
Attorney Ron Bamieh, left, listens to his client, Loay Abdelfattah Alnaji, a professor of computer science at Moorpark College, in Ventura County Superior Court on Nov. 17, 2023, in Ventura. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File) Paul Kessler, a Jewish man who died after an altercation with a pro-Palestinian demonstrator in Thousand Oaks on Nov. 5, 2023. (Kessler Family) Loay Alnaji is shown in a Nov. 5, 2023, photo taken by RMG News. A woman leaves flowers at a makeshift shrine placed at the scene of a Sunday confrontation that lead to death of a demonstrator Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023, in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Paul Kessler, 69, died at a hospital on Monday from a head injury after witnesses reported he was involved in a “physical altercation” during pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrations at an intersection in Thousand Oaks, a suburb northwest of Los Angeles, authorities said. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Alnaji’s defense attorney, Ron Bamieh, doesn’t dispute that an altercation occurred but insists his client’s actions didn’t cause Kessler’s fatal injury.
“While he may have been pushed or hit by a megaphone, that’s not what caused his fall,” Bamieh told reporters after Alnaji’s arrest. “It’s clear that when he fell, my client was six to eight feet away from him.”
Bamieh also implied that Kessler may have instigated trouble at the rally.
Alnaji remains free on $50,000 bail. If convicted of all charges, he faces a maximum of four years in prison.
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