By Jorge Casuso

July 19, 2022 -- A former Navy SEAL faces a minimum sentence of 15 years to life in prison for the 2016 murder of a Santa Monica man after a verbal altercation near the Pier.

Theo Krah (Courtesy SMPD)

Theo Krah -- who was found guilty by a jury on July 8 of second degree murder -- will be sentenced on August 1 for the killing of 57-year-old Kris Anderson, a longtime UCLA Extension employee. The beating and stabbing death took place on June 11, 2016 on the 1400 block of 5th Street, where police responded to a call from the Fire Department at around 5 p.m. reporting a man down on the sidewalk. "Officers discovered a male with severe trauma to the face and head," said Lt. Rudy Flores, the Police Department spokesman.

Anderson was transported to a local hospital where he died at 4:40 the following morning. The Coroner listed the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head and torso with a stab wound to his face.

An hour before the deadly confrontation, police had responded to an altercation involving the two men near the Pier.

Krah's attorney told The LA Times that his client -- who was a 28-year-old active Navy SEAL at the time -- was on the Pier for a paddleboard competition when he spotted Anderson taking pictures of young girls.

Krah confronted Anderson, requested to see his camera and held the man until police arrived, according to Krah's attorney Anthony Salerno.

Salerno said police asked Anderson to delete the photographs but did not record any wrongdoing on his part.

"During that incident, SMPD Officers identified both males before they went their separate ways," Flores said.

Detectives linked Krah to the murder using surveillance footage that showed Krah following the victim from the Pier into the downtown area "where he brutally assaulted him," Flores said.

Two days later, police detectives arrested Krah in Coronado, California. Krah, who was held on $2 million bail, was charged with murder by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.