Open Season on Jews in L.A.

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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.

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.”...

t should be noted that Judge Malan indicating what sentence he'd order for Alnaji upon a guilty plea to all charges isn't a plea bargain. Plea bargains are negotiated by prosecutors, not the judge, and generally involve lowering or dismissing some of the charges or an agreement -- from the prosecutor -- as to what the sentence will be. Judges aren't permitted to negotiate plea bargains; their role is limited to accepting or rejecting what the prosecution and defendant agreed upon.

It's unclear when those meetings took place and whether or not the District Attorney's office was present for those meetings or even aware they occurred; there are no docket entries reflecting any meetings. Both prosecutors and Kessler's family object to the proposed deal

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.

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