SAN DIEGO -- Three men were convicted today of breaking into a Mission Beach condominium and raping two of four University of San Diego students who were there.

Donald Duante Smith, 20, Antonio Washington, 19, and Willie Louis Watkins, 32, face multiple life terms in state prison when they are sentenced by Judge John Einhorn.

Deputy District Attorney Patrick Espinoza said the eventual sentences could exceed 200 years to life for each defendant.

"I think it's fair to say that all these three defendants will not be walking as free men again," the prosecutor said outside court after the verdicts were read.

The judge set a March 17 sentencing date, but that is expected to be postponed.

Smith was convicted of 26 counts, Washington the same and Watkins 24 counts in verdicts that took the judge an hour-and-an-half to read.

One of the rape victims and friends and family of other victims sat silently as the verdicts were announced.

All three defendants were convicted of rape in concert, forcible rape, oral copulation in concert, sodomy while acting in concert, rape by a foreign object, attempted forcible rape, robbery and false imprisonment.

Smith, Washington and Watkins were also found guilty of allegations that they sexually assaulted multiple victims, that the crimes were committed during a burglary, that the crimes were committed in concert with others and that at least one of the perpetrators personally used a deadly weapon during the attack.

Smith and Washington were also convicted of two counts each of kidnapping for robbery.

"This is the worst sexual assault case I've ever prosecuted. It's the worst sexual assault case I've ever seen come through the San Diego District Attorney's Office," Espinoza said outside court.

Smith snickered and seemed to fashion a vulgar finger sign as the verdicts against his co-defendants were read.

The jury reached the 76 guilty verdicts on its third day of deliberations.

Espinoza said the victims -- an 18-year-old man, a 19-year-old man, and two 18-year-old women -- showed extreme courage by testifying against their attackers.

"They're doing as well as can be expected under the situation," the prosecutor told reporters. "They don't want to be known as victims for the rest of their life."

Espinoza said the case was an "ordeal" that impacted the victims, the community and detectives who investigated the "horrific" case.

The prosecutor said the verdicts were a result of the hard work from the San Diego Police Department and its DNA examiners.

Espinoza said there was some complicated DNA evidence in the case left by multiple suspects with multiple victims, leaving DNA mixtures for forensic analysts to sort out.

"And it's not as easy as we see on TV shows like `CSI' when just the result pops out," the prosecutor said.

In his closing argument, Espinoza said the defendants went to Mission Beach on Oct. 15, 2006, to "prey on other people" and came upon a half-naked woman in the condo on San Fernando Place, where they committed multiple sexual assaults.

The defendants' own statements and incriminating DNA evidence prove their guilt, the prosecutor said.

Smith turned himself in days after the crime and admitted taking things out of the condominium, raping the women and having them perform sex acts on him, Espinoza said.

Washington admitted stealing DVDs and other items from the residence and admitted participating in the sexual assaults, the prosecutor said.

Watkins' DNA profile matched DNA found on vaginal swabs taken from both women, according to the prosecutor.

The day after the attack, Watkins bragged about his participation in the sexual assaults, the prosecutor said.

Two juveniles who were part of a larger group of eight to 10 people who robbed three other college students in the same area that night provided inside information about the actions of the defendants, according to Espinoza.

Smith's attorney, John Fielding, told the jury in his closing argument that the DNA found on a sweatshirt was insufficient to link his client to the rapes.

Fielding said the juveniles who supposedly saw the defendants go into the home on San Fernando Place made up stories until they found one police could live with. The juveniles lied so they could cut plea bargains with prosecutors and avoid more time in custody, Fielding said.

If Smith participated in the rapes as the prosecutor said he did, his DNA should be everywhere, but it wasn't, Fielding argued.

Washington's attorney, John O'Connell, told the jury that Washington turned himself in and gave a simplistic statement, not a confession, to police.

O'Connell said no one identified Washington as one of the assailants, and he doesn't fit any descriptions given by witnesses.

The DNA results could just as easily exclude Washington as include him, his attorney said.

Watkins' attorney, Knut Johnson, told the jury his client was innocent.

Watkins was outside while others entered the condominium and was outside when the rapes were occurring, the attorney said.

Witnesses said the assailants were between 18 and 24 years old, and Watkins, at 32, is much older, Johnson said.