SAN DIEGO -- Five young men charged with murder in the beating death of a professional surfer in La Jolla hang out together and admittedly get into fights but they do not belong to a gang, so allegations of gang involvement should be dismissed, defense attorneys said Wednesday.

Seth Cravens, 22, Eric House, 20, Orlando Osuna, 22, Matthew Yanke, 21, and Henri Quinn-William Hendricks, 22, are charged in connection with the death last May of 24-year-old Emery Kauanui.

Mary Ellen Attridge, the attorney for Cravens, told Judge John Einhorn before the start of a preliminary hearing that the defendants are a group of young men who work, go to college, coach sports and go out on the town.

"One of the things they do is go out at night and drink and get in fights," Attridge told the judge.

But the gang the defendants are supposedly a part of -- the Bird Rock Bandits -- have no initiation rituals and don't wear the same colors, the attorney said.

"This does not a gang make," Attridge said.

She accused the District Attorney's Office of trying to elevate previous alleged misdemeanor conduct to felony conduct in order to make the gang allegation stick.

She called the gang allegations "fiction."

Yanke's attorney, Kerry Steigerwalt, said a renowned gang expert will testify for the defense that allegations that the defendants are part of a gang is an "absurd stretch of the (gang) statute."

Richard Gates, the attorney for Hendricks, said Hendricks was a student-athlete and not a gang member.

The attorneys also told the judge that at the end of the preliminary hearing -- which is expected to last several days -- they would be asking that various other charges be dismissed.

If convicted on the murder charge, the defendants could be facing up to 15 years to life in prison, said Deputy District Attorney Sophia Roach.

Authorities allege it was Cravens who delivered the punch to the jaw that caused Kauanui to fall back and hit his head last May 24. The victim died four days later at a hospital.

Investigators said the attack was precipitated by a drink-spilling incident at the La Jolla Brew House involving the youngest defendant, who was encouraged to fight Kauanui after the five allegedly followed the victim to the Draper Avenue home he shared with his mother.

Prosecutors allege Osuna drove the other defendants to the fight scene about 1:30 a.m. and all were involved in beating Kauanui, a native of Hawaii and acclaimed surfer.

Witnesses said House was left behind at the crime scene and seemed tearful and apologetic, but Roach contends he stayed behind to look for a missing tooth.

Prosecutors said the entire incident wouldn't have happened if House's honor wouldn't have been challenged at the bar and he had just "let it go."

In court documents, police characterize the group as a loose-knit crew of about a dozen people, who allegedly went around harassing, intimidating and assaulting others.

Before testimony began Wednesday, Roach told the judge that in 2004, there was a marked increase in violence in incidents attributed to the Bird Rock Bandits.

The prosecutor said in January 2004, Cravens and others allegedly crashed a party and beat up guests with bottles and part of a picket fence. Three months later, at another house party, Cravens allegedly sucker-punched a man, Roach said.

At a 2006 New Year's party, Cravens allegedly punched a man after the victim allegedly bumped Cravens and spilled beer on him, the prosecutor said.

In August 2006, three people on the beach in La Jolla were approached by Osuna and Cravens, who asked where the three were from, the prosecutor said.

Osuna and Cravens allegedly threw beer on the victims and started an all-out melee, Roach said.

In 2007, Cravens, Yanke and Osuna, among others, were aboard a party bus that pulled up to a party where a fight broke out, the prosecutor alleged.

Cravens allegedly beat a man and threatened to kill him, and Osuna allegedly hit a girl in the head, Roach said.

In February 2007, a man walking to a La Jolla bar punched Cravens and was taken to the ground and beaten, the prosecutor said.

Three months later, another man was walking out of the same bar, called The Shack, when they noticed a group that included Cravens, Roach said.

Cravens allegedly punched the man and asked him if he wanted some more, the prosecutor said.

On Cravens' My Space page, he allegedly posted a note that said, "I can't go to The Shack for awhile. I murdered someone," Roach told the judge.

The night Kauanui was beaten, he and House argued at the Brew House in La Jolla and the victim's on-and-off girlfriend, Jennifer Grosso, drove him home, the prosecutor said.

Grosso was on her way back to the bar to retrieve a car when she heard someone in the defendants' group say, "Let's go (expletive) him up," referring to Kauanui. "Don't tell him we're coming. I know where he lives," according to Roach.

When Grosso arrived back at Kauanui's house, she saw House on top of the victim "pounding on him," Roach said.

Grosso jumped on House and Hendricks pulled her off, allowing Kauanui to get up, the prosecutor said.

According to Roach, Cravens then walked up to the victim and punched him, sending Kauanui to the ground with a "sickening thud," the prosecutor said.

Three witnesses saw the defendants kicking the victim while he was on the ground, Roach said.

Attridge said everybody involved in the fist-fight was extremely intoxicated, including the victim, whose blood-alcohol level was measured at .17 percent.

The attorney said no one kicked or beat Kauanui after he was punched and fell to the ground and hit his head.

Osuna's attorney, James Warner, said Kauanui died from hitting his head and was not punched or kicked while on the ground.

Any suggestion otherwise is a "pure figment of (the prosecution's) imagination," the attorney said.