RICHMOND, Calif. -- Wearing jailhouse jumpsuits, the six suspects in the homecoming gang rape of a Richmond High teenager pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that could send them to prison for life.

The suspects -- San Pablo residents Cody Smith, 15, and Ari Morales, 16; Pinole resident Marcelles Peter, 17; and Richmond residents Manuel Ortega, 19, Jose Montano, 18, and Elvis Torrentes, 21 – have been charged with a variety of crimes including an acting in concert charge that opens the door for a life sentence.

Outside the courthouse, Senior Deputy District Attorney Dara Cashman said she felt there was a strong case against the defendants and that the charges were the results of the ‘callousness’ of the crime.

“The word that always comes to my mind in this particular case is callous,” she said. “It’s very cold and callous. We have some rape cases and even rapes in concert where the injuries are tremendous and where the conduct is extremely brutal. This is certainly up there in those types of cases, but it also has a very cold, callous element to it because of the fact that there were so many people and very little effort to help her.”

At a hearing last month, Cashman gave each of the defendant's attorneys the discovery in the case. Each attorney was given 685 pages of written discovery and 28 DVDs containing interviews and photographs.

Cashman said at the time that the evidence in the case was extensive.

"In most average felony cases you're talking less than 100 pages," she said.

According to police, as many as 10 people robbed, beat and raped the victim for two-and-a-half hours in a secluded area of the campus beginning at about 9:30 p.m. while as many as a dozen others stood by and watched.

The three juveniles have been charged as adults with rape by a foreign object while acting in concert. Morales has also been charged with robbery, according to the criminal complaint.

Ortega has been charged with forcible rape while acting in concert, assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury, and robbery.

Montano has been charged with forcible rape while acting in concert and rape by a foreign object while acting in concert.

Torrentes has been charged with rape by a foreign object of a person unable to resist due to intoxication, rape by a foreign object while acting in concert and rape while acting in concert, Cashman said.

All of the defendants except for Torrentes also face enhancements that make them eligible for a life sentence, according to Cashman.

“As a prosecutor, I don't file a case unless I have a good faith belief that we have evidence to prove each defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charges we have charged them with,” explained Cashman.

Cashman said that, in general, to charge a suspect with such enhancements, prosecutors would need proof that a defendant personally penetrated the victim with an object or his body.

“If somebody is present when a rape is committed and facilitates it in some way, but doesn't commit the actual rape, he can still be charged with the crime but not the enhancement,” Cashman said.

All defendants are due back in court on Jan. 21 to set a date for their preliminary hearings.