A Ventura County Superior Courtroom choose declared on Wednesday that there was sufficient proof to carry for trial a Moorpark man accused within the loss of life of counterprotester Paul Kessler final 12 months.
Choose Ryan Wright determined that Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji, 51, would stand trial after listening to 18 witnesses over a two-day preliminary listening to, in line with the Ventura County district lawyer’s workplace.
Alnaji was charged with two felonies: involuntary manslaughter and battery inflicting severe bodily damage with particular allegations of personally inflicting nice bodily hurt damage on every rely, in line with district lawyer’s spokesperson Joey Buttitta. If discovered responsible of all costs, Alnaji might spend as much as 4 years in jail.
Alnaji posted $50,000 bail. He couldn’t be reached for remark.
Alnaji’s and Kessler’s lives ceaselessly modified on Nov. 5 at a pro-Palestinian rally at Westlake and Thousand Oaks boulevards in Thousand Oaks.
The positioning had been often called a gathering level for pro-Palestianian teams protesting Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip in response to the Oct. 7 assault on Israel by Hamas.
Kessler, 69, carried an Israeli flag and joined a bunch of counterprotesters. In whole, about 100 individuals have been on the intersection.
A “bodily confrontation” broke out between Kessler and Alnaji, during which Alnaji allegedly bludgeoned Kessler with a megaphone, in line with the district lawyer. Kessler fell to the bottom bleeding with extreme head accidents.
He died the following day at a hospital.
Proof offered within the preliminary listening to by Courtney Lewis, senior deputy district lawyer, included DNA evaluation of Kessler’s blood discovered on the rim of a megaphone that Alnaji is accused of utilizing to hit the person.
Kessler’s cellphone video that exhibits the moments main as much as the assault was additionally submitted as proof.
County medical expert Dr. Othon Mena additionally testified about Kessler’s explanation for loss of life. Mena mentioned Kessler died from blunt power trauma brought on by the blow from the megaphone and the next fall.
The district lawyer’s workplace mentioned that though antisemitic hate speech befell that day, it couldn’t hyperlink something to Alnaji.
