A protester who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of an elderly Jewish man during a 2023 demonstration in California over the war in Gaza was sentenced to one year in county jail this week, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Paul Kessler, 69, died after he fell and hit his head during a confrontation with the protester, Loay Alnaji, 53, on a street corner in Thousand Oaks near Los Angeles on Nov. 5, 2023. Kessler died the next day.

Authorities said Alnaji was participating in a pro-Palestinian group protesting the Israel-Hamas war, while Kessler was demonstrating in support of Israel.

Prosecutors said Alnaji called 911 and stayed at the scene after the fall. The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said Alnaji escalated a verbal altercation into a physical confrontation and struck Kessler in the head with a megaphone.

Alnaji pleaded guilty on May 5 to involuntary manslaughter and battery causing serious bodily injury, both felonies, prosecutors said, along with a special allegation of causing great bodily injury. The office said it sought a state prison sentence and objected to the one year in county jail term and two years of probation imposed by the court.

In a victim-impact statement, Kessler’s widow described the “pain of losing” her husband and said the grief has been relentless, according to the district attorney’s office.

Alnaji’s attorney argued the incident was accidental, and that Alnaji moved to swat Kessler’s phone away and unintentionally hit him with the megaphone, a local report said. The judge noted at sentencing that the charges did not allege an intentional killing or a hate crime.