Three gang members plead to murder charges in 2014 Orosi home invasion

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- One early morning in May of 2014, four men decided to break into a house that had four people inside, including two children.

This week, three South Valley gang members, Edgar Picazo, Francisco Padilla, and Rolando Magana, plead no contest to charges including murder and attempted murder for their roles in the violent home invasion.

Prosecutors say there was a fourth intruder, Victor DeHaro, who held a gun to the head of one of the people home at the time.

But that person's 22-year-old brother grabbed a gun and then shot and killed DeHaro.

A gunfight then started between the older brother and the intruders.

Magana was shot, and so was the 22-year-old (they both survived).

"Two of his sisters had a bullet go within six inches of their head where they were hiding in a closet," said Tulare County Assistant District Attorney David Alavezos.

DeHaro was left dead on the home's driveway, while Picazo and Padilla helped bring Magana to a hospital.

Padilla was arrested in Bakersfield the following month, but Picazo was on the run longer, eventually caught at the US/Mexico border in 2016.

In addition to four counts of attempted murder, the three men were charged for the murder of DeHaro, their accomplice who was killed during the shootout.

"You are doing something that is likely to result in somebody defending themselves and or their family," Alavezos said. "And if one of your fellows gets killed, that is a likely circumstance at the end of the day, and so, therefore, you can be charged with that because you are doing something you knew could result in death."

All three defendants have committed crimes since their arrests.

Last year, Alavezos says Picazo was convicted of stabbing another inmate, and Magana was found guilty of being an accessory after the fact in that incident.

In another case, Padilla was found guilty of having a shank in jail.

Sentencing is scheduled for November.

Each of the suspects faces 25 years to life in prison. Each of the suspects faces 25 years to life in prison.