2 Navy Men Deny Guilt in Carjacking Attempt

Two Navy men accused in an attempted carjacking that left an alleged accomplice dead at the hands of one of the victims pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of conspiracy to commit robbery.

Daniel K. Hilburn, 28, and Robert Lee Bible, 23, were arraigned by Municipal Judge Robert P. McDonald, who ordered the two men held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

The East San Diego men are accused of accompanying 25-year-old David Ray Gooch during an attack on a couple in the parking lot of El Torito restaurant in Mission Valley.

The armed attack is one of seven carjacking incidents in less than 12 hours beginning Friday afternoon.

Gooch died after the male passenger in the vehicle slashed his throat as Gooch beat the 35-year-old female driver of the car, Deputy Dist. Atty. Elizabeth Porterfield said.

The killing was a “justifiable homicide,” Porterfield said in court Wednesday. She said the 33-year-old victim used a hunting knife he always carried after Gooch had smashed in the driver’s-side window with a large wrench and then leaned in to attack the woman.

After the stabbing, the assailants fled. Gooch died at Mercy Hospital just after midnight Friday, and Hilburn was taken into custody at the hospital, Porterfield said.