Seth Cravens’ attorney told a jury in his murder trial Monday that he acted in self-defense when he punched professional surfer Emery Kauanui Jr., and it was the fall to the pavement that cracked Kauanui’s skull that caused his death in front of his mother’s home in La Jolla. Attorney Mary Ellen Attridge has always claimed the actual offense should be involuntary manslaughter, a lesser offense that three others involved in the confrontation had pleaded guilty to involving the May 2007 death in La Jolla. But Attridge went farther than that by saying it “was not a homicide” and indirectly suggesting she would seek an acquittal. “It is undisputed that this tragedy was unnecessary, senseless … it was not a murder. It was a case of self-defense,” Attridge said. “This case is not a prosecution but a runaway train, because Mr. Cravens is not guilty.” “It began at a bar where Emery Kauanui was drinking heavily,” said Attridge, who stated that Kauanui’s blood/alcohol level was .17 percent at the hospital, which is twice the legal limit, though he was not driving. Both the prosecutor and Attridge acknowledged that Kauanui had been drinking at the Brew House and that his girlfriend, Jennifer Grosso, drove him home after Kauanui spilled a drink on Eric House, 21. House played a key role in the May 24 incident, as he, Cravens, 22, and three others drove over to Kauanui’s mother’s house, where he was beaten. He died four days later. Attridge did not mention whether Cravens had been drinking that night as well. When San Diego Superior Court Judge John Einhorn sentenced House and three others to varying jail terms on probation, he said the slaying was “fueled by alcohol” use on the part of the defendants. “This is a case about power, intimidation … disregard for other human beings,” said Deputy District Attorney Sophia Roach as she started her opening statement. Roach quoted the victim’s girlfriend, who said she overheard Cravens’ plot for revenge because of the spilled beer upon House. “Let’s go (expletive) him up. I know where he lives,” said Roach, quoting Cravens as testified to by Grosso. Grosso told the nine-man, three-woman jury and four alternates that the drink-spilling incident “was totally accidental.” She said she drove Kauanui home in his car and then left to get her car, which was still parked near the Brew House. She said she sensed trouble, and returned to Kauanui’s house, where she saw he was being beaten, around 1:30 a.m. Grosso said she screamed out Cravens’ name, yelling to him to stop. “I saw Emery on the ground with Eric on top of him,” said Grosso, who added she kicked House in the head to get him to stop. She said she screamed out the names of others in hopes neighbors could hear her. Grosso testified she saw Kauanui stand back up, but not for long. “I saw Seth approach him and gave him an extremely hard punch. It was like the lights went out in Emery,” Grosso said. “I heard his skull crack when it hit the pavement. There was a pool of blood … I thought he was dead right there. I started screaming, ‘Why would you do it?’” Grosso said Kauanui regained consciousness briefly in the ambulance, and she slept on the floor in his hospital room for four nights until he died on May 28. She said they had dated for more than five years. On Tuesday, neighbors who heard the screams and saw the fight testified. “There were four guys beating on someone,” said neighbor Philip Baltazar, who identified Cravens as the man who “cold-cocked” Kauanui. “He (Kauanui) went down. You could hear the skull hitting the ground,” testified Baltazar. Baltazar said he recalled Grosso screaming and kicking the other men to try and get them away from Kauanui. Another neighbor, Thomas Corona, testified. “I heard stomping, hitting. Then I heard Jenny saying, ‘Seth, get off him! Seth, please, get off him!’” Corona testified he ran down to see what he could do. “I saw Emery laying there on the corner with his head cracked open,” Corona said. Cravens is also on trial for numerous assaults on other people in which he allegedly crashed their parties and for an incident at Windansea Beach. House, Orlando Osuna, 23, and Matthew Yanke, 22, all pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Henri “Hank” Hendricks, 22, pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact. On Sept. 5, Osuna was sentenced to 349 days in jail and House and Yanke each got 210 days in jail. Hendricks received 90 days in jail. All four men were placed on three years’ probation with the restriction they cannot drink alcohol, even in their own homes, for three years. Each was fined approximately $1,000. All five men are graduates of La Jolla High School and lived in La Jolla when the crime occurred. Cravens remains in the downtown central jail on $1.5 million bail.