Bird Rock Bandit charged with killing rising La Jolla surf star up for parole nearly two decades after fatal night

"Mr. Cravens has been incarcerated since 2007 for the tragic consequences of his impulsive violence..."

Seventeen years ago, the tony San Diego enclave of La Jolla was rocked to its core after 24-year-old up-and-coming surfer Emery Kauanui was killed after being punched in the head then crashing to the pavement. Seth Cravens, 21, delivered the deadly blow. He was part of the “Bird Rock Bandits,” described by the local CBS affiliate as “a group of longtime friends from the wealthy enclave of La Jolla’s Bird Rock neighborhood who were known as a group of bullies who picked fights and taunted those in and around La Jolla.”

On May 23, 2007, Cravens and his crew got into a drunken altercation with Kauanui at local watering hole La Jolla’s Brew House after he accidentally spilled a beer on one of them. The initial fight was broken up by staff and Kauanui’s girlfriend drove him to his mother’s home in his car. When she returned to the bar to get her car, she saw the Bird Rock Bandits getting ready for scrap and testified that she heard Cravens say, “Don’t call him. I know where he lives. Let’s go fuck him up.”

By the time she returned to Kauanui’s mother’s house, the group was already fighting. She said it paused briefly, her boyfriend yelled at Cravens who, in turn, threw the punch that knocked Kauanui to the ground where he started bleeding from his head.

Five days later, he died from what was determined “blunt-force head trauma.”

Cravens was charged and went to trial where a history of unprovoked violence was uncovered. Multiple unprovoked attacks leading to serious injury. In February of 2009, a jury convicted him of second-degree murder and he was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.

On January 8, 2025, he will receive a second parole hearing. His attorney, Laura Sheppard, declared, “Mr. Cravens has been incarcerated since 2007 for the tragic consequences of his impulsive violence, and he has taken the opportunity to mature and reflect on his actions and change his ways. He has expressed to me his deep remorse for his actions that night, the unintended consequences of a single punch was that Mr. Kauanui was knocked unconscious and unfortunately died because of the impact of his head on the pavement.”

She added that her client has been sober for years and has had no prison rule violations for at least five years.

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan disagrees, feeling that the now mid-30-year-old is still a menace and stating, “It’s not just about that brutal murder. It started two years earlier with Mr. Cravens assaulting, threatening, brutally knocking out women and men for no reason whatsoever. He caused fractured noses, fractured cheek bones, caused a lot of pain and fear. He and the Bird Rock Bandits acted like a criminal group that was terrorizing the neighborhoods.”

Tomorrow, a parole board will decide his fate at Corcoran State Prison which just so happens to be very close to Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch.

But what are your thoughts on the matter? Is prison for rehabilitation or pure punishment?

More as the story develops.