On November 5, 2023, less than a month after the horrors of October 7, there were two simultaneous demonstrations taking place less than a mile from our synagogue. One was for Israel; the other was pro-Hamas. At the rally, Paul Kessler, a 69-year-old Jew, was approached by a pro-Palestinian demonstrator named Loay Alnaji, a 50-year-old “activist” who outweighed him by 80 pounds. When Kessler started filming Alnaji's verbal attacks on his phone, Alnaji hit Kessler with the bullhorn he was holding, knocking Kessler to the concrete. The injuries from the fall and the blow from the bullhorn ultimately resulted in Kessler's death a few hours later.

I wrote multiple articles about this, culminating in an article with the hopeful expression that justice would be served. I am friends with both the chief of police and the sheriff of Ventura County, who are both good men and were seeking to create a good case against Alnaji. Ultimately, after reviewing over 600 pieces of evidence, interviewing over 60 witnesses, and spending over 2,000 man-hours on research, an arrest was made. Alnaji, a Palestinian activist and professor at Moorpark College, was arrested.

Although law enforcement recommended a murder charge, District Attorney Erik Nasarenko decided instead to pursue a manslaughter charge. He believed it was a charge that could secure a conviction, whereas a murder charge would have been far more difficult to prove because of the available evidence — and lack thereof. Because of the stringent legal definitions, Erik was also unable to pursue a hate crime charge, but he assured local Jewish leaders that the manslaughter charge would probably lead to a conviction.