An Eloy man awaiting trial for a 2019 armed robbery in Sierra Vista involving a machete attack will stand trial in a federal court next month on human smuggling charges before facing a jury in Cochise County, it was announced last week.
Edmund Boyd Goswick is set to go on trial Jan. 12, 2021 at the U.S. District Court in Tucson on four count related to the transport of undocumented immigrants for profit. That case stems from a March 2020 arrest in which Goswick, 25, was a passenger in a vehicle with three Mexican nationals who were in the country illegally.
At the time, Goswick was on pretrial release after being indicted on by a Cochise County grand jury on multiple felonies including aggravated and armed robbery, kidnap, burglary, and aggravated assault stemming from an incident at a Sierra Vista hotel in July 2019. The victim in the case was beaten with a machete, according to Det. John Andela.
In the Cochise County case, Goswick became the subject of an October 2019 bench warrant issued by Judge Laura Cardinal when he failed to appear for arraignment. The warrant was executed a few weeks later by the Eloy Police Department, which booked Goswick into the Pinal County jail.
Goswick was then transferred to the Cochise County jail to be arraigned. He was eventually released Nov. 1, 2019 to the custody of his father pending trial, but Cardinal revoked that release order on April 1 upon learning Goswick was arrested in mid-March and was in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
Federal court records show U.S. Border Patrol agents had a stash house in Cochise County under surveillance on March 16 when a 2008 Hyundai Sonata circled the house for about 20 minutes. Agents later identified the driver as Sarah Crystal Ledesma.
“Eventually the vehicle pulled into the driveway of the stash house, and left soon after,” the criminal complaint states. “(Agents) could see there were two additional people now in the backseat, and the back of the vehicle appeared weighted down. (Agents) followed the vehicle, and conducted a traffic stop, at which point the driver accelerated and swerved into oncoming traffic, before coming to an abrupt stop in the oncoming traffic lane of State Route 80.”
Goswick was in the front passenger seat; two male Mexican nationals were in back seat and a third was in the vehicle’s trunk. Federal court records show Ledesma was granted pretrial release after her arrest but Goswick has remained in federal custody.
Last month a motion was filed with the federal magistrate seeking Goswick’s pretrial release.
“Mr. Goswick has been in custody since March 17, 2020 and has been trying to enter his guilty plea to the offer of 12-18 months with a variance, however the co- defendant wants to go to trial,” the motion states. “Since both defendants have to accept the plea, the plea offer has been withdrawn. As of today’s date, Mr. Goswick has been in custody for 8 months more than half of the lower end of the withdrawn plea.”
Goswick’s motion is opposed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. As of press time, U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie Bowman has not ruled on pretrial release but if granted Goswick would be transferred to the Cochise County jail as Cardinal has set bail at $25,000 in the armed robbery case.
Meanwhile, Goswick’s attorney in the Cochise County case told Cardinal on Dec. 4 he hopes to have a plea deal finalized soon in the armed robbery case. The parties will be back in Cardinal’s courtroom early next year for a review conference at which a trial date may be set if Goswick is not prepared to enter a plea.