More information has become available about what led to Loay Alnaji’s surprise guilty plea on Tuesday morning and a potential sentence, but that information leads to additional questions we’re still running down answers for.
Alnaji, readers will recall, is the pro-Hamas agitator and community college professor who killed a Jewish man, Paul Kessler, when the two were attending dueling protests on November 5, 2023. Alnaji crossed two eight-lane streets to confront Kessler, who was waving an Israeli flag on the corner of Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Westlake Boulevard in Ventura County, CA. During that confrontation, Alnaji bashed Kessler’s head with a bullhorn, causing Kessler to fall backward, striking his head on the concrete. Kessler’s skull was fractured in the fall, and he died approximately seven hours later.
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Alnaji’s attorney, Ron Bamieh, told the Ventura County Star that on Tuesday morning, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Derek Malan offered Alnaji probation if he pled guilty and that the sentence would be one year in jail followed by three years on probation. However, according to the DA’s office, “the court has indicated it is likely to place him on formal probation with up to 365 days in jail at the sentencing hearing on June 25.
Bamieh further told the VC Star that Malan made the offer after “several meetings” with him and that, in his recollection, Malan said he’d determined that Kessler’s death occurred when “two old guys had a dispute and an accident happened.”
Bamieh added, “In light of the potential consequences of entering a trial and what could happen, we decided that the best course of action is to accept a probation offer and plead guilty today.” His logic doesn’t make sense, though, if what he said about Judge Malan’s indicated sentence is true. Meaning, if Malan told Bamieh his take on the events in question and the sentence he’d be inclined to give, why would it matter if Alnaji pled guilty before trial or was found guilty of every single count by a jury? And at trial, it’s possible the jury wouldn’t find all of the enhancements or even find him guilty of both charges.
It’s unclear when those meetings took place and whether or not the District Attorney’s office was involved; there are no docket entries reflecting any meetings. Both prosecutors and Kessler’s family object to the proposed deal; Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said after Tuesday’s proceedings:
“Alnaji should be sentenced to prison for his violent behavior, and our office strongly objects to any lesser sentence. While no amount of punishment will ever fully account for the Kessler family loss, a prison commitment underscores the severity of this crime and will deter others from committing similar acts of violence.”
It’s also unclear when that offer was allegedly extended by Judge Malan. Malan only started handling the case on March 18, and Alnaji wasn’t scheduled to be in court on Tuesday, but the docket entry in Alnaji’s case for May 5 says, “Case calendared to 05/05/26 at 09:45 AM in Courtroom 48 for Miscellaneous Disposition.” So, Alnaji was there to enter a plea, but the offer wasn’t made until that time? That doesn’t make sense.
By reviewing the procedural history of the case, it’s clear that Malan didn’t want any members of the press in the courtroom on Tuesday morning, making it impossible for the public to know exactly what happened in a timely manner; journalists will now have to pay the official court reporter for a verbatim transcript since there was no notice given to the public – or even to one eyewitness, who only learned that the plea had been entered when we contacted him for comment.
So, what is that procedural history?
Judge Ryan Wright presided over the case from the beginning until his death (at age 53) in September, 2025. At the time of his death, the case was set for trial on October 20, 2025. In January 2026, the parties appeared before Judge Anthony Sabo, the Supervising Criminal Judge, and a new trial date of February 18 was set. On that date, both parties requested a continuance to March 17, 2026. On March 17, Judge Sabo continued the proceedings to March 18, and that’s when Malan first appears. The parties then discussed scheduling on the record, and a trial date of April 9 was set. On April 9, the trial was continued to May 14.
Before every hearing and trial date, the docket reflects requests from news organizations to “photograph, record, or broadcast” the proceedings, but since Tuesday’s proceedings were not calendared, the press wasn’t there. Alnaji’s been out on bond and getting paid, and was already scheduled to appear in court in nine days. There wasn’t any reason for him to enter a guilty plea on May 5, unless they didn’t want cameras or journalists there.
Loay Alnaji criminal case docket as of May 5, 2026 by Jennifer Van Laar
We also don’t know what evidence Malan relied on when allegedly determining that Kessler’s death was just an accident when two old dudes had a spat. Malan wasn’t the judge during the two-day preliminary hearing, though he almost certainly had read the transcript, and he hadn’t heard a substantive motion in the case before allegedly making an end-run around the DA’s office and the victim to offer a probationary sentence for a violent assault resulting in death. While entering a guilty plea, Alnaji admitted the existence of three aggravating factors, but there are no mitigating factors alleged in the available records.
We are working to obtain the transcript from Tuesday morning’s hearing, the new information that was filed by prosecutors, and the Felony Plea Agreement Form, and we’ve reached out to all parties involved with questions and a request for comment; we’ll report that information as we receive and analyze it.
At the June 25 sentencing hearing, Judge Malan will hear victim impact statements and review a sentencing report on Alnaji, prepared by the probation department, before formal sentencing occurs. We anticipate that the courtroom will be full and that prosecutors and eyewitnesses will bring forward all possible evidence showing Alnaji is not just a mild-mannered computer science professor.
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