MICHAEL COONS/Acorn Newspapers
Friday in Ventura County Superior Court, attorney Ron Bamieh, left, entered a not guilty plea on behalf of his client, Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji, who’s accused of involuntary manslaughter and battery causing serious bodily injury in the Nov. 6 death of Paul Kessler.
The Moorpark College professor authorities say is responsible for the death of a Thousand Oaks pro-Israel protester pleaded not guilty Friday to two felony charges.
Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji, 50, of Moorpark faces one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of battery with serious bodily injury in the death of 69-year-old Paul Kessler. Each count is accompanied by a special allegation that the defendant personally inflicted great bodily injury on another person.
Alnaji was in custody and represented by attorney Ron Bamieh when he appeared for arraignment before Ventura County Superior Court Judge Ryan Wright on Nov. 17 following his arrest the day before.
With Alnaji booked a day earlier on $1 million bail, Bamieh asked that bail be reduced.
“He’s either going to be convicted on both (counts) or he’s going to be acquitted of both,” Bamieh told the judge. “He belongs to this county.”
“He should be O.R.,” Bamieh added, a reference to his “own recognizance,” a promise to show up for the next court hearing.
In denying the request, Wright noted the seriousness of the allegations and the fact that someone died.
“I don’t think O.R. is appropriate in this case,” he said.
Instead, the judge lowered the bail to $50,000.
Alnaji will, however, have to give up his passport as part of his release, which was expected to happen by the end of the day.
Wearing jailhouse blues and shackled at the ankles, Alnaji was escorted by a bailiff back to the holding area after the brief hearing.
Family and friends were on hand to support the professor, but declined a request by the Acorn for comment.
Said one: “We want justice.”
Outside court, Bamieh said Kessler was the initial aggressor.
“He got in the face of many of the protesters” at a pro-Palestinian rally that fateful day, was yelling and screaming at people and had taken the time to learn the Arabic word for ‘whore,’ which Bamieh said he hurled at the other side.
“He put his phone in the face of my client and my client brushed the phone away,” Bamieh said.
Whatever happened, he added, there was no intent to harm Kessler.
Charges
Earlier in the day, Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko gave the prosecution’s angle.
RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers
Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko speaks about charges against Loay Alnaji during a news conference Fri., Nov. 17.
“Our charge and path as prosecutors is to follow the facts, follow the evidence and adhere to the rule of law,” he said. “That is exactly what we have done and that is how we arrived at this point.”
He went on to describe battery as the willful touching of another. Manslaughter is the killing of another without criminal negligence. Should he be found guilty of all charges, Alnaji could face up to four years in prison, the district attorney’s office said.
“To be sure, we received no evidence, no information whatsoever that the defendant arrived at that intersection at Thousand Oaks and Westlake boulevards on Nov. 5 with the intent to kill, harm or injure anyone,” the county’s top prosecutor said.
In filing the charges, investigators leaned on new physical and forensic evidence and the findings regarding the injuries to the left side of Kessler’s face, Nasarenko said. One witness told the Acorn he saw Alnaji strike Kessler’s head with a megaphone. Kessler died at the hospital the next day.
To create a more complete timeline of events leading up to the confrontation between Alnaji and Kessler, authorities meshed video and digital photos, Nasarenko said. Officials have issued nine search warrants, conducted more than 60 interviews and examined more than 600 pieces of evidence, Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff and Nasarenko said.
“I want to comment on what was not filed. We did not file murder because there was no intent,” Nasarenko said.
So far, no hate crime charge has been filed, either, although that investigation continues and a hate crime has not been ruled out, the D.A. said.
“At this moment in time, we do not have the elements of a hate crime satisfied, thus we cannot charge it at this time,” Nasarenko said. “What we are looking for in particular is whether or not the acts–the impact, the force–was accompanied by specific hate speech, specific statements or words that demonstrate an antipathy, a hatred toward a specific group. We don’t have that at this point.”
Witness
That point is hard for Jonathan Oswaks to accept. He was there and experienced hateful speech and threats of violence directed at both him and Kessler by Alnaji and others, he said.
“If what I witnessed that day was not a hate crime, I don’t know what is,” he said.
Though Oswaks had tried via social media to encourage people to counter the pro-Palestine rally, like those that had taken place at the same Thousand Oaks intersection the two weekends prior to the Nov. 5 event, his message was removed from a popular neighborhood site and only Kessler showed up that Sunday.
“Paul and I were the only two Jews in a sea of 100, 120 pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas supporters,” he said. “It was hate speech that was being spewed against Jews, against the state of Israel, against myself and Paul for being there. Just being there.”
He had met Kessler the weekend before, when they both showed up to rally for Israel. On Nov. 5, they sat on a bench in front of a restaurant near the intersection getting to know one another before taking to the sidewalk.
At some point, they split up, with Oswaks on the northeast corner near a building with business offices while Kessler was on the northwest corner in front of a Shell gas station.
Oswaks said Alnaji tried to engage with him prior to interacting with Kessler.
“This fellow that struck Paul came and tried to engage with me first–and he tried hard but I just wasn’t taking the bait and I finally sent him away because I’d had enough of his nonsense,” Oswaks said. “When he crossed the street, it wasn’t 90 seconds from the time he left me until Paul is down on the ground.”
Oswaks said he was watching the other corner and could locate Kessler, a father and husband of 45 years, in the crowd because he was holding the flag of Israel.
Then he saw Alnaji hit Kessler with a megaphone, he said.
“So . . . clearly they wanted blood. Clearly, they wanted a physical altercation,” Oswaksd said. “Clearly they were happy about the fact that they’ve knocked Paul down and he was bleeding. They rub the blood on the sign that says ‘Death to Israel’ and they were parading that around. This is hate, folks. Let’s call it what it is.”