Six Gang Rape Suspects Enter 'Not Guilty' Pleas

Dec. 1, 2009 — -- The six suspects in the brutal gang rape of a 15-year-old Richmond, Calif., high school girl all pleaded not guilty today.

The defendants face a litany of charges, including rape in concert, and sexual battery stemming from the Oct. 24 incident, which was witnessed by 20 or more people who did not call police or attempt to intervene.

The juveniles -- 15-year-old Cody Ray Smith, 16-year-old Ari Morales and 17-year-old Marcelles Peter -- are being charged as adults. The other defendants are Jose Montano, Manuel Ortega and Elvis Torrentes. If convicted, all could be sentenced to life in prison.

Appearing this morning in orange jumpsuits, the six defendants were enclosed behind a bulletproof glass barrier, according to ABC's San Francisco affiliate KGO-TV.

While the defendants themselves showed little emotion during the brief hearing, friends of the accused told reporters that the boys must have been drawn to the victim the night of the incident.

"As far as with the girl, I'm not saying she is a bad person, but I feel that there had to be something that attracted them if they did it -- I don't know," a friend of a defendant, Shyan Mason, told KGO.

One of the witnesses of the gang rape said last month that he could have stopped the attack that he watched for 20 minutes and he didn't feel accountable for what happened.

"I feel like I could have done something, but I don't feel like I have any responsibility for anything that happened," the unidentified 16-year-old witness told KGO.

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Two witnesses told the television station they didn't call police during the more than two-hour-long assault on the girl because they didn't want to be called a snitch.

Witnesses have said that the victim was repeatedly kicked in the head as a group of boys took turns raping her during the attack, even using a foreign object to penetrate her.

One witness said he didn't have a cell phone to call for help and was scared to tell anyone what was happening. Even his parents didn't know he saw the rape occur, he said.

"She was pretty quiet. I thought she was, like, dead for a minute, but then I saw her moving around and I was like, 'Oh,'" the witness told KGO. "I really wanted to help her, but I don't know, I just didn't."

Police said that a total of 10 males were suspected of taking part in the gang rape. Twenty others, according to authorities, stood by and watched, some even snapping photographs on their cell phones, while the teen girl was assaulted.

Salvador Rodriguez, who was initially arrested in connection to the crime but was later released after the district attorney said she did not have sufficient evidence to hold him, said he saw some "crazy things" the night of the attack.