Despite more charges filed against five young men in the beating death of professional surfer Emery Kauanui Jr., a judge on Sept. 14 turned down the prosecution’s request to raise bail on four of them.
Instead, the judge reduced the $2 million bail against suspect Seth Cravens to $1.5 million.
Cravens, 21, believed to have inflicted the most damage to Kauanui, is the only suspect still in jail. Henri Quinn-William Hendricks, 21, who was the fifth person charged on Sept. 4, posted a $500,000 property bond over the weekend.
The new charges stem from fights and other confrontations that occurred with other people before Kauanui, 24, was severely beaten on May 24 outside his mother’s home in La Jolla. He suffered a fatal skull fracture and prosecutors said all five men contributed to the beating.
San Diego Superior Court Judge John Einhorn said there was not a significant change in circumstances over the filing of new charges to warrant increasing bail and remanding all the defendants who had posted bond to jail. Prosecutors had mentioned they might file additional charges several months ago.
Deputy District Attorney Sophia Roach had asked that Cravens’ bail be doubled to $4 million, and the other defendants’ bails be raised to $2 million. Cravens’ attorney, Alan Spears, submitted a list of bail amounts in other counties and contended that $1 million bail or less is the average bail in homicide cases.
Extra chairs were brought in to seat people Friday in the crowded courtroom, but there were still 20 people left outside. Parents and other relatives of the defendants, and reporters, filled almost all the seats.
La Jolla High School graduates Orlando Osuna, 22, Eric House, 20, Matthew Yanke, 21, Cravens and Hendricks all pleaded not guilty to the new charges, which also include allegations they participated in the crimes as gang members known as the Bird Rock Bandits.
Cravens is charged with 11 new counts alleging he committed numerous felony assaults, often after crashing parties.
Cravens is charged with allegedly dissuading a witness from testifying in a July 2, 2005, incident, and making a criminal threat. According to the charge, Cravens said “We are going to kill you” six days later to the victim, who was punched.
One young man told police he was injured Feb. 4, 2007, in La Jolla near a taco shop. The man identified Cravens and Osuna as his attackers, saying he recognized them because they bullied him when he was attending La Jolla High School, according to the charges.
The same victim lost a tooth in another incident, in which he says Osuna allegedly hit him at a party that Osuna had crashed without an invitation in March 2006.
“Cravens is the most violent and volatile member of the Bird Rock Bandits,” said Roach in court documents. She described him as the gang’s founder and said, “He routinely calls the shots for group attacks.”
Cravens, Osuna and House are charged with felony assault in an Oct. 14, 2005, incident at a La Jolla party. A young man had asked where his ex-girlfriend was, and Cravens allegedly punched him, breaking several facial bones.
Cravens is also accused of sucker-punching a young man on Dec. 31, 2005, over spilled beer at a party.
Three assault and battery charges against Cravens allege he fought with someone at Windansea beach over where they were from. Cravens is accused of punching a 16-year-old girl in the chin and chest at a party in La Jolla to which he was not invited in October 2006.
On Dec. 31, 2006, a young man and woman were injured at a party in La Jolla in which Cravens was not involved. Also charged with assault and battery in the same incident are Hendricks, Osuna and Yanke.
On May 9, just weeks before the beating of Kauanui, a Point Loma man said he was struck in the face by Cravens outside a La Jolla bar after the victim made some comments to two women he described as drunk, according to the charge.
Alcohol is believed to be a factor in many of the incidents, but none of the defendants was arrested so there are no blood/alcohol test results.
Kauanui, however, had a .17 blood/alcohol level when he was taken to a hospital, according to court records.
Kauanui and House reportedly fought at the La Jolla Brew House that night. The surfer poured a glass of beer over House’s head, according to witnesses’ statements in court records.
Defense attorneys say Kauanui was so intoxicated that his former girlfriend drove him home.
However, at home, Kauanui called Cravens on his cell phone, but it wasn’t known if the two talked.
The prosecution claims witnesses say that Cravens said to others, “Don’t call him. I know where he lives. Let’s go [expletive] him up.” All five defendants showed up at Kauanui’s home, he came outside to talk to them and he was beaten.
The preliminary hearing is set for Oct. 29, and is estimated to last 10 days. Defense attorneys want a delay in that hearing, and it may be argued at a Sept. 21 status conference.
Both House and Yanke have juvenile records for battery. Cravens has no criminal record.
House remains free on $1.5 million bond. Yanke remains free on $1 million bond, but he is living at an alcohol residential treatment facility, records say. Osuna is free on $500,000 bond. Cravens remains jailed at the George F. Bailey Detention Facility.