A former Southern California college professor pleaded guilty in Ventura County, California, to charges tied to the death of a Jewish counterprotester during demonstrations in 2023 over the Israel-Hamas war, officials said. Prosecutors said Loay Abdelfattah Alnaji, 53, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and battery connected to a November 2023 confrontation that started as a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Thousand Oaks, a suburb northwest of Los Angeles.

According to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, the event was advertised as a peaceful gathering, but Paul Kessler was among a group of pro-Israel demonstrators who showed up. Prosecutors said Alnaji struck Kessler with a megaphone during the confrontation. They said Kessler fell backward, hit his head on the pavement, and died the next day at a hospital. Kessler was 69.

The guilty plea also included an admission tied to a special allegation, prosecutors said. The district attorney’s office said Alnaji admitted that he personally inflicted great bodily injury and that aggravating factors applied because he used a weapon and because the victim was particularly vulnerable.

Alnaji stayed at the scene after the confrontation, according to the court record described by the prosecution. In a statement relayed by his plea account, deputies were told that Alnaji called 911.

Alnaji’s lawyer, Ron Bamieh, said both Alnaji and his client’s family members had received multiple death threats and that Alnaji feared that publicity about the trial could further endanger his family. Bamieh said Alnaji had been out on $50,000 bail.

Bamieh said Alnaji should expect jail time followed by probation, and he suggested the likely outcome would involve about six months of jail time with good behavior, while noting the maximum sentence on the charges was up to four years in prison. Prosecutors, however, objected to a lighter sentence, according to the district attorney’s office. District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said in a statement that prosecutors “strongly objects to any lesser sentence,” adding that a prison commitment would “underscore the severity of this crime” and deter similar acts of violence.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 25, where the parties’ dispute over the length of punishment will be decided in court.