A fifth suspect in the slaying of professional surfer Emery Kauanui Jr. surrendered Monday with his attorney and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Henri Quinn-William Hendricks, 21, had recently been attending the University of New Hampshire, where he was to play as the back-up quarterback of their football team. But he returned to San Diego voluntarily to face a murder charge that was only filed last week.
San Diego Superior Court Judge John Einhorn set bail at $500,000 and Hendricks was taken into custody. It was expected that he would be able to post a property bond and get out of jail.
Hendricks was interviewed by San Diego police on May 29, four days after Kauanui, 24, was attacked outside his mother’s home in La Jolla. Hendricks was at the scene of the beating but was initially thought to only be a spectator. The prosecutor has declined to say why they waited three months to charge Hendricks.
KGTV interviewed David Ponsford, a football coach at La Jolla High School, where all five were on the football team. Ponsford said Hendricks talked to him about the incident of the surfer’s death.
“He told me his involvement was pretty much as a spectator,” Ponsford told KGTV reporter Michael Chen.
Meanwhile, three of the other four men charged may be back in jail on Friday, Sept. 14, after the District Attorney’s office plans to hold a bail enhancement hearing to increase the bail because other assault charges have been filed against some of the others.
Matthew Yanke, 21, Eric House, 20, and Orlando Osuna, 22, have all posted high bond amounts with the help of their parents and others. Only Seth Cravens, 21, remains in county jail on $2 million bail.
Other charges of assault and battery against other victims have been filed against most of the defendants involving unrelated incidents that took place during the past few years. The young men called themselves the “Bird Rock Bandits,” and they reportedly were known to harass and intimidate people whose paths they crossed.
Family members of the defendants and their attorneys deny these other incidents took place. Police have said they had not heard of the group before the surfer’s death. The bail condition for all of them involve a ban on visiting area beaches so they won’t run into surfers who may have known the victim. Kauanui died from brain injuries several days after he was punched and suffered a skull fracture, which may have occurred when his head hit the street.