PORTERVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A man with alleged ties to a California prison gang pleaded not guilty Tuesday to killing six people, including a teenage mother and her child, last month at a central California home linked to a competing gang, the prosecutor’s office said.

Rural Goshen, a community of about 3,000 people in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley, was stunned by the Jan. 16 massacre.

Angel Uriarte, 35, pleaded not guilty Tuesday and remains in custody without bail. After that, he was hospitalized in a pre-trial detention center wounded in a firefight with federal agents more than two weeks after the murders.

Uriarte’s co-defendant, Noah David Byrd, 25, pleaded not guilty earlier this month. Authorities say he shot 16-year-old Alyssa Paraz and her 10-month-old baby, Nicholas Paraz, in the back of the head.

Both are charged with six counts of murder and other crimes, and each faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole. The Tulare County Prosecutor’s Office has not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty.

“The Tulare County Sheriff and DA have already poisoned the jury by telling anyone who will listen that this is a death penalty case, even though the governor announced some time ago that he was suspending executions in California,” said the attorney. Uriarte. Anthony Dell’Ano Sr., the email said. “That sounds political to me.”

Due to various legal issues and court decisions, no one has been executed in California in recent years. In 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom announced a moratorium on the execution of death sentences while he is in office.

Sheriff Mike Boudreau has publicly called on Newsom to reinstate the death penalty for both the men and other child murders.

Beard’s attorney declined to comment Tuesday.

The defendants are scheduled to return to court on March 15.

Investigators believe the two suspects have ties to the Nuestra Familia prison gang. Uriarte was convicted in 2015 of assault with a firearm in connection with a street gang, while Barada had a juvenile conviction, prosecutors said in a court filing.

Authorities have not released a motive for the shooting, but Los Angeles Times it is reported to have happened after years of crime between two feuding families in Hesse.

The other victims were identified as: Rosa Paraz, 72; Eladio Paras, Jr., 52; Jennifer Analo, 49; and Marcos Paras, 19.