Seth Cravens should get a new murder trial in the death of a slain La Jolla surfer because his attorney claims the judge committed an error by sending the jury back into deliberations after the foreman said the jury was deadlocked in an 11-1 vote. Mary Ellen Attridge filed a 40-page motion for a new trial with San Diego Superior Court Judge John Einhorn, who set sentencing for Feb. 2. Cravens, 23, of La Jolla, was convicted Nov. 18 of second-degree murder in the death of Emery Kauanui, Jr., 24, who died on May 28, 2007, outside his mother’s home in La Jolla. After five days of deliberations, the jury foreman told Einhorn the panel was deadlocked in an 11-1 vote on the charge involving Kauanui. When the judge asked each juror if further deliberations could help in reaching a verdict, three jurors said yes. With that information, Einhorn sent them back into more discussions, and they reached a verdict involving Kauanui’s death the next day. Attridge wrote in her motion that she feared “the verdict was the result of acquiescence and not individual deliberations.” She didn’t cite any juror misconduct or comments from jurors, but said Einhorn committed a “prejudicial error” by ordering the jury to continue deliberations. Jurors also convicted Cravens of three felony assaults, two counts of making a criminal threat and misdemeanor battery in other incidents with other people in La Jolla. Deputy District Attorney Sophia Roach won additional time to study the defense motion, noting Attridge filed the motion two days before sentencing. The motion also contained exhibits and trial transcripts that contained up to 100 pages. Einhorn delayed the Jan. 12 sentencing to Feb. 2. Roach couldn’t be reached for comment on the motion. The prosecutor also filed documents that showed she is seeking a prison term for Cravens of 26 years to life and two months. The murder sentence would be imposed as 15 years to life, and Roach wanted 11 years and two months tacked consecutively onto it for the other offenses Cravens was convicted of committing. Attridge also alleged that Roach committed misconduct during her closing argument by misstating the law. She said Roach argued that it was “common knowledge” that blows to the head are dangerous, and there was insufficient evidence to show that Cravens knew that a punch to the victim’s head could have killed him. Kauanui’s skull was cracked in multiple places after his head hit the street. She said Cravens did not act with conscious disregard for life, an element jurors must find to convict someone of second-degree murder. “Death was not a probably consequence of being struck once,” wrote Attridge. Attridge said there was no planning involved in the surfer’s death and Cravens was under the influence of alcohol at the time. Cravens and three others were not arrested until days later, and no tests for blood/alcohol levels were taken. Attridge also asked the judge to lower the verdict to a lesser offense such as voluntary or involuntary manslaughter. Three others, Eric House, 21, Orlando Osuna, 23, and Matthew Yanke, 22, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter on June 27, and Henri “Hank” Hendricks, 22, pleaded guilty to acting as an accessory after the fact. Of the other four, only Osuna remains in jail and is expected to be released on Feb. 22 after Einhorn sentenced him to 349 days in jail, according to court records. House and Yanke were sentenced 210 days and Hendricks received a 90-day term. All were placed on three years’ probation, fined and ordered to abstain from alcohol for the next three years. Cravens and Osuna now reside in the Vista Detention Facility, records say.