A 53-year-old Moorpark man who admitted to what turned out to be a fatal blow to a 69-year-old Jewish man who fell over backward and struck his head on the ground during dueling pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Thousand Oaks has been sentenced to a year in Ventura County jail, prosecutors said.
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Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji pleaded guilty earlier this year to involuntary manslaughter and felony battery related to the death of Paul Kressler in 2023 during a confrontation at Westlake and Thousand Oaks boulevards.
As part of the plea, Alnaji acknowledged using a “weapon,” which authorities described as a megaphone.
Prosecutors unsuccessfully argued that Alnaji should serve time in state prison, according to a Ventura County District Attorney’s Office statement. After his release from local lockup, Alnaji must serve two years of probation. It was not clear if he spent time behind bars prior to the plea deal that lessened how much time he serves.
Kessler’s friends and family — including his wife of 43 years — described him as someone whose life revolved around his loved ones and his community. An amateur pilot, Kessler kept busy by going to the gym or on walks around the community and keeping informed of current events, supporters said.
“There are no words to describe the pain of losing a husband in such a sudden and violent way,” his widow wrote to the court. “The grief is relentless. The silence in our house, the absence of his voice, his companionship, his love and the future we had planned together are losses I carry with me every day.”
Coming in the midst of rising tension in Southern California over the Israel-Hamas war, Kessler’s death and Alnaji’s arrest drew national headlines.
There were 75 to 100 demonstrators from the opposing factions in the area when Kessler was found suffering from a head injury and bleeding from his head and mouth.
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Alnaji — at the time a professor of computer science at Moorpark College — was detained at the protest, as deputies searched his home. Law enforcement at the time described him as cooperative with the investigation.
Less than a month after Kessler’s death — and soon after the results of the autopsy were released — Alnaji was arrested and criminally charged. Prosecutors alleged that Kessler had fallen after Alnaji struck him in the head with a megaphone.
Alnaji’s attorney previously argued that Kessler had approached Alnaji at the demonstration and “thrust a cellphone in his face while making inflammatory accusations.” Alnaji responded by trying to knock the phone from Kessler’s hand but instead struck him on the side of the head, the defense attorney said.
Kessler turned, stood for about five seconds and then collapsed, Alnaji’s attorney added.
Had the case gone to trial, the defense attorney previously indicated he would have focused on whether Alnaji’s actions were a justified response to Kessler. The defense also signaled that it would have questioned whether a medical condition Kessler had that caused him balance issues played a critical role in his death.
After reviewing the evidence from both the prosecution and the defense, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Derek Malan offered Alnaji the plea deal.
Alnaji’s attorney previously explained that his client reconsidered going to trial and instead chose to accept the deal out of a concern for his family’s well-being and community peace.
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