Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita, III announced that 35 year-old Edmund Bowie pleaded guilty as charged to two counts of Burglary in the First Degree, Assault in the Second Degree, and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree, before State Supreme Court Justice Deborah Haendiges. These are the highest charges for which the defendant could have been convicted had he gone to trial.

On September 18, 2013, Bowie used a crowbar to pry open the doors and break into the victim’s Buffalo residence. When confronted, Bowie used the crowbar as a weapon and assaulted the victim with it. Bowie fled the crime scene and led the police on a high-speed chase down several residential streets until crashing his vehicle. Relentless in his perpetual quest to escape justice, Bowie fled on foot but was apprehended by Buffalo Police Officers Christina Colosimo and Anthony Kozlowski.

In 2012, in what can be charitably described as a remarkable co-incidence, Bowie went to trial on an indictment charging him with Burglary in the First Degree in connection with another home invasion. In that case, three assailants broke into the home of a businessman and terrorized his loved ones, at gunpoint, until they revealed where cash was hidden inside the residence. Although the shotgun wielding assailant successfully fled the scene, he was promptly identified by the victims as none other than Edmund Bowie.

Despite that identification testimony and despite the convictions of his accomplices, Bowie was acquitted. The acquittal was principally based upon the testimony of a defense “expert” witness, paid for with county taxpayer funds, who claimed the identifications were suspect. It should be noted that the trial jury was barred from hearing testimony about Bowie’s prior conviction for yet another violent felony, namely, Attempted Assault in the First Degree. 

The case was successfully prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Alicia Lilley and Eugene Partridge. Bowie faces a minimum of 5 years and maximum of 25 years in state prison when he is sentenced by Justice Haendiges on March 3 at 2:00 pm.