The district attorney’s office in Ventura County, in the Los Angeles area, is displeased with what it said is a superior court’s indication that Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji will get off with a light sentence after pleading guilty, on Tuesday, to charges related to the death of a 69-year-old Jewish man.
“A prison sentence could be two, three or four years under California law in this case,” Tom Dunlevy, supervising senior deputy district attorney for the county, told JNS. “Our office’s objection is to the court’s offer of probation, as we believe this case warrants a prison sentence.”
Alnaji pleaded guilty on Tuesday to felony involuntary manslaughter and felony battery causing serious bodily injury and “admitted the special allegation that he personally inflicted great bodily injury,” the district attorney’s office stated. “Alnaji also admitted aggravating factors that he used a weapon and that the victim was particularly vulnerable.”
“The court indicated that it is likely to place Alnaji on formal probation with up to 365 days in jail,” it added.
Alnaji pleaded guilty to charges related to the death of Paul Kessler, who died after an altercation with Alnaji near competing pro- and anti-Israel rallies in Los Angeles on Nov. 5, 2023.
A computer science professor at Moorpark College, in Thousand Oaks, Calif., Alnaji hit Kessler with a megaphone, causing the 69-year-old to fall and hit his head on the pavement. Alnaji at first pleaded not guilty.
Alnaji was listed as a computer science instructor on the Moorpark website as recently as the 2025-26 academic year. He is no longer listed on the college’s computer science department. According to archived versions of the website, he was listed on March 24, 2023 but not on Dec. 5, 2023.
Erik Nasarenko, Ventura County district attorney, stated that “Alnaji should be sentenced to prison for his violent behavior, and our office strongly objects to any lesser sentence.”
“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,” he stated.
Henry Stern, a Democratic state senator in California, stated that the trial update is “disappointing.”
“You wonder if this hadn’t been a Jewish victim, who was killed by a Palestinian activist for supporting Israel, if the judge would’ve been so lenient,” he wrote.
