Gangs Expert Witness On Beating Death of Surfer

by

A gangs defense expert says that five young men charged with murder and gang allegations in the beating death of a surfer outside his La Jolla home do not fit the legal definition of being members of a criminal street gang. San Diego News reports:

Alfonso Valdez, a University of California, Irvine sociology professor who teaches classes on gang cultures, testified in the preliminary hearing for Seth Cravens, Orlando Osuna, Matthew Yanke, Eric House and Hank Hendricks, who are accused in the death a year ago of 24-year-old Emery Kauanui. “It is not a gang,” the expert witness testified. “None of the defendants in this case are gang members as defined under California law.” Valdez said none of the defendants admitted gang membership and did not act like gang members.