Dozens of people gathered in the hallway outside of a courtroom Friday morning, murmuring English, Mandarin and Spanish as four teenagers were set to appear before a judge for the murder of USC graduate student Xinran Ji.

Most of the crowd were students of Chinese descent, many bearing USC T-shirts as they lined up to file into the courtroom behind the defendants' families. Many said they were friends of Ji or had come out in support of his family.

"I figure they're all from USC, I'm not sure," a heavyset woman in baggy jeans said to a friend, glancing over her shoulder. 

But the band of supporters who showed up at court on Friday was not limited to Ji's fellow USC students alone. A 26-year-old Chinese graduate student who asked not to be identified said he and a group of four other friends had come from the California Institute of Technology, to "figure out how these guys will deal with" the defendants.

Ji, a 24-year-old electrical engineering student, was walking home from a study group on campus late at night on July 24 when he was attacked and beaten to death with a baseball bat, according to police. Evidence suggests signs of struggle as Ji tried to escape his assailants, "only to be assaulted a second time," reported the L.A. Times.

Viewers sat shoulder-to-shoulder in the tightly packed room as rights were read to the defendants and a preliminary hearing was set for Oct. 9.

One month earlier, much to the shock of the some 150 students filling the courtroom, 19-year-old Jonathan Del Carmen, 18-year-old Andrew Garcia, 17-year-old Alberto Ochoa and 16-year-old Alejandra Guerrero pleaded not guilty to murder charges. 

"Of course, we were so angry that they pleaded not guilty," said Rose Tsai, the Ji family attorney. "They felt the heaven fell to hell. To hear the defendants plead not guilty, it was secondary trauma."

As two of the suspects, Ochoa and Guerrero, are underage, they face a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted. Tsai repeatedly asserted that the family is seeking the "most severe penalty possible" for the perpetrators, but declined to comment on their view on the death penalty, which prosecutors have yet to decide whether Del Carmen and Garcia may face.

"All I can say is I'm trusting in the Lord," Garcia's mother told the L.A. Times at her son's arraignment.

SEE ALSO: Xinran Ji's Accused Killers Plead Not Guilty

In the courtroom, two men were ejected for "communicating" with the suspects. After the session concluded, they were seen entering a stairwell, where loud screams of frustration reverberated. 

Missing from the scene were Ji's parents, who have returned to inner Mongolia, according to Tsai. Once the trial gets underway, they may return, she said, although "it will be difficult for them." 

For now, their only small hope is that Ji's death will not have been in vain, and that some sense of justice can come from it, said Tsai.

"The family wants to thank every supporter," she continued. "Some people ask, 'Why do you say so many thank yous when your only son was killed?' That's what makes me feel they are strong parents."

The case of Ji's violent death has stirred up a confluence of emotions among its involving parties, but perhaps the most vocal so far is the strong base of support within the Chinese student community, not only at the university but seemingly across California.

"I don't know him in person, but we are friends in the social media," said the Cal Tech student, adding that he had studied at the same university as Ji in China before moving to the U.S. "I don't know whether other people feel the same way, but I do feel like Asian students are at a disadvantage."

It is the same unsettling sentiment that drew Lambert Li, Ran Bi and Xin Sun out from the campus of UC Berkeley to the downtown L.A. courthouse that morning, driving overnight to make the 8:30 a.m. court session. 

The difference in the legal systems in China and the U.S. inherently put international students at a disadvantage, said Ran, who is currently studying law. "Lots of Chinese students get in legal trouble in the U.S. and they feel really helpless." 

Seeing his friends get pulled over for driving offenses or other misdemeanors was what compelled Ran and his companions to form the non-governmental organization, Chinese Overseas Students Legal Aid Centre. The team of law students and pro bono lawyers has offered to assist with research on Ji's case and with the help of Chinese student groups, a registered hotline and a system on WeChat, the popular Chinese text messaging service, it hopes to expand a network encompassing as many universities as possible. 

READ MORE: USC Sends Poor Message To Grieving Family With Botched Memorial Service

Like the Cal Tech student, Ran and his friends had never met Ji, but as they held up a sign bearing his smiling photograph, they said they would try to come to every court date. "It's torture. Inhumanity," Li said of his death.

Similarly, Wang Yue Min, a 23-year-old USC graduate student from Guangxi, China, said she didn't know Ji personally, but felt that the case could mark an important example in student safety. She took a Yellow Cab by herself that morning to join the scores of supporters in photographs, she said, because "this is a Chinese peer, of the same age."

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