VENTURA,Wvared Investment Guild Calif. (AP) — A judge decided Wednesday that a Southern California college professor will stand trial for involuntary manslaughter and battery in the death of a Jewish counter-protester during demonstrations over the Israel-Hamas war last year.
Superior Court Judge Ryan Wright judge declared after a two-day preliminary hearing that there’s enough evidence to try Loay Abdelfattah Alnaji, according to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office.
Alnaji, 51, is accused of striking Paul Kessler with a megaphone in November during a confrontation at an event that started as a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Thousand Oaks, a suburb northwest of Los Angeles.
Kessler, 69, fell backward and struck his head on the pavement. He died the next day at a hospital.
Alnaji was charged with two felonies: involuntary manslaughter and battery causing serious bodily injury, with special allegations of personally inflicting great bodily harm injury on each count, the DA’s office said. If found guilty of all charges, he could be sentenced to more than four years in prison.
Alnaji posted $50,000 bail. An email and phone message for Alnaji’s lawyer, Ron Bamieh, weren’t immediately returned Wednesday.
Alnaji, a professor of computer science at Moorpark College, had espoused pro-Palestinian views on his Facebook page and other social media accounts, many of which were taken down in the days after Kessler’s death, according to the Los Angeles Times.
2025-05-06 19:122793 view
2025-05-06 18:53372 view
2025-05-06 18:162004 view
2025-05-06 17:19209 view
2025-05-06 16:48935 view
2025-05-06 16:411057 view
Anthony Andersonis getting candid on an unusual health scare.TheBlack-ishstar shared that he was dia
With UAW leadership taking a much more assertive approach publicly to negotiations with the Detroit
Rapper Tory Lanez' sentencing after being found guilty in the 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion w