The four young gang members accused of shooting a rival gang member will be in court this morning to enter their pleas and set a date for a preliminary hearing.

Stephen Russell Barrios, 19, Raymond Almodobar, 18, Christian Gallegos, 18, and Daniel Ortega, 19 have been arraigned for the Dec. 8, 2007, murder of Richardo Gonzalez in a gang fight in the 2500 block of Laurel Street in west Napa.

The men are being held in Napa County jail on bail ranging from $5 million to $3 million.

The men each will be represented by their own court-appointed defense attorney. Napa County Deputy District Attorney Fred Gutierrez is prosecuting the case.

The defendants are expected to enter pleas on Wednesday. The judge will set a date for the preliminary hearings where the court will decide, after hearing evidence from the prosecution and the defense if the four defendants should be held to answer to the criminal charges filed against them.

“As it stands right now, all four defendants are charged in one complaint,” Napa County Chief Deputy District Attorney John Goold said. “When the case goes to the preliminary hearings, all four of them will be in the same courtroom with their separate attorney.”

Goold said if the court finds the men should answer to the criminal charges, we would then have to work out the logistics of a possible jury trial,” Goold said.

Goold said there is the possibility each defendant could have his own jury. “We would also have to decide if we would have more than one judge presiding over the proceedings.”

The last time the Napa County courts were faced with this type of a logistics problem was in the 1998 gang drive-by shooting of Norteno gang member Michael Arreguin.

Four rival Sureno gang members were charged with his death and the case went to trial with multiple juries.

The four young men were found guilty of Arreguin’s death and are serving lengthy sentences in state prison.

Gonzalez’s death followed a rash of gang retaliation incidents which started on Nov. 23, when several gang members went to the Collier Boulevard apartment complex looking for a young man suspected of beating up a rival gang member’s brother.

From there the gang violence escalated, culminating with the shooting death of Gonzalez.

If found guilty, Barrios, Almodobar, Gallegos and Ortega face 25 years to life in state prison