Loay Alnaji Gets Up to 1 Year for Killing of Paul Kessler at Thousand Oaks Rally

The Ventura County Superior Court in California ruled that 54-year-old Loay Alnaji, who killed 69-year-old Jewish protester Paul Kessler during a pro-Palestinian rally in the city of Thousand Oaks, will serve a sentence of up to only one year in jail. In addition, he was given three years of probation.

The decision comes after a dramatic turn in the legal process: Alnaji, an immigrant of Jordanian origin, was supposed to begin a jury trial in about a week. However, Judge Derek Malan offered the defendant a plea deal under which he would change his plea and, in return, receive a significantly lighter sentence. Alnaji accepted the offer and admitted to the offenses, even though the maximum possible sentence in the case was four years in prison.

His attorney, Ron Bamieh, explained that the decision followed a series of meetings with the judge, who described the incident as a confrontation between two older men that ended in tragedy. According to him, "In light of the risks involved in going to trial and what could happen, we decided the best course was to take the offer and plead guilty."

According to the defense, during the demonstration Kessler pressed his cell phone aggressively into Alnaji’s face, and when he tried to push it away, he unintentionally struck Kessler in the face with a megaphone. It was also claimed that Kessler had a brain tumor that worsened his condition after he fell and hit his head. Alnaji’s attorney said, "This is a tragic case, but Mr. Alnaji is a peaceful man and always has been." Kessler’s family expressed strong opposition to the deal, in part because eyewitnesses claimed that Alnaji deliberately hit Kessler with the megaphone.

Kessler’s friend, Jonathan Oswack, who attended the rally with him, expressed shock at the deal: "I was in disbelief when I heard about the plea. It doesn’t feel like justice was done. I’m not a lawyer, but the way this case was handled raises serious questions. I’m angry — it’s a tragic case, and the way it’s ending is deeply frustrating."

Oswack said the two arrived together at the November 2023 demonstration but had to split up because of the size of the crowd. Shortly afterward, he said, he was verbally attacked by pro-Palestinian protesters: "They cursed and shouted antisemitic things in a way I have never experienced in my life."

It also emerged that Alnaji, a computer science lecturer at a Ventura County community college, had posted pro-Palestinian content on social media before the incident.