Temple Fest incident settled with numerous penalties

Abdel Aziz Jalil, the student who was accused of striking senior management information systems major and Jewish student Daniel Vessal at Temple Fest in August, was admitted into a six month Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program, among other penalties today.

The Commonwealth-run ARD program is intended to help first offenders who are charged with minor crimes. Aziz Jalil was also given 10 hours of community service, included in anger management counseling and required to pay numerous fees.

Aziz Jalil was charged with simple assault and recklessly endangering another person. Despite accusations of the incident being driven by anti-Semitic views, Aziz Jalil was not charged with a hate crime.

The Commonwealth proposed the penalties today in a Municipal Court status hearing, which Aziz Jalil attended with his defense attorney, Raymond C. Geary. The judge overseeing the hearing, Nazario Jimenez Jr., accepted the agreement between the parties and urged Aziz Jalil to complete the program and “stay out of trouble.”

Geary said that Aziz Jalil has already given Vessal a formal letter of apology and the two will shake hands at Geary’s office at a later date.

Aziz Jalil is still listed as a student in the university’s directory.

If Aziz Jalil completes all of the required programs, the Commonwealth will expunge the incident from his record as part of the agreement.

Marcus McCarthy can be reached at marcus.mccarthy@temple.edu or on Twitter @marcusmccarthy6.