On Wednesday, a judge announced that a college professor from Southern California will stand trial for unintentionally causing the death of one person and injuring another during protests related to the Israel-Hamas conflict last year.The person who died was a Jewish counter-protester.
Superior Court Judge Ryan Wright decided that there is enough evidence to put Loay Abdelfattah Alnaji on trial, according to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office.
Alnaji, who is 51 years old, is being accused of hitting Paul Kessler with a megaphone in November. This happened during an argument at an event that began as a demonstration supporting Palestine in Thousand Oaks, a suburb outside of Los Angeles.
Kessler, who is 69 years old, fell backwards and hit his head on the ground. He passed away at the hospital the following day.
Alnaji was accused of causing someone’s death and seriously injuring them. The district attorney’s office said he was charged with two serious crimes and that there were extra details in each case. If he is proven to have done all the bad things, he could go to jail for more than four years.
Alnaji paid $50,000 to get out of jail. Alnaji’s lawyer, Ron Bamieh, did not answer the email or phone call on Wednesday.
Alnaji, a computer science professor at Moorpark College, shared his support for Palestine on his Facebook page and other social media. Many of his posts were removed after Kessler’s death, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Date:
California college professor to stand trial over the death of pro-Israel protester last year
