Overview
- Loay Alnaji pleaded guilty Tuesday to involuntary manslaughter and felony battery, admitting he used a megaphone as a weapon and that Paul Kessler was particularly vulnerable, with the court indicating probation and up to 365 days in county jail.
- Ventura County prosecutors and Kessler’s family opposed that outcome and sought the maximum four-year sentence in state prison.
- Evidence outlined at a May 2024 hearing included video and audio from Kessler’s phone and medical examiner testimony that he died from blunt-force trauma caused by the megaphone strike and a fall to the pavement.
- Alnaji remains free on $50,000 bail and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 25 in Ventura County Superior Court.
- The confrontation occurred during dueling pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protests in Thousand Oaks in November 2023, and the defense says the blow was accidental as Alnaji tried to deflect a phone, noting he called 911 and stayed at the scene.