Sean Higgins’ lawyers argue evidence of the Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau’s blood alcohol content was withheld from the grand jury during indictment proceedings
Lawyers representing Sean M. Higgins, the driver accused of killing Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau last summer, want their client’s indictment tossed, saying the grand jury didn’t learn about the brothers’ intoxication at the time of the crash, which could amount to possible “contributory negligence” in their own deaths.
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“Mr. Higgins is not demanding to be treated differently than any other but rather is respectfully requesting that the presentation of the charges against him be full, complete and transparent so as to allow him the ability to fairly defend the matter at bar,” his lawyers state in a largely-redacted court document.
Higgins, who admitted to responding officers he’d been drinking that day and later failed a field sobriety test, had a BAC of .087, which is above the state’s .08 legal limit.
The brothers, who were supposed to stand at their little sister’s wedding the following day, died at the scene.
Based on witness accounts, there’s no evidence to show they were riding recklessly or on the roadway when hit. Bicycles are not governed by the state’s driving while intoxicated laws.
Because a manslaughter charge in the state requires the victim’s death to have occurred “under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life,” they contend Higgins’ conduct, based on the testimony of two officers, created a “mere possibility” of death instead of the required “probability.”
While alleging “the cyclists were intoxicated,” Higgins’ counsel say they’re not arguing “that it somehow exonerates” him.
“Rather, in an effort to ensure that a matter of this magnitude where the State is making plea offer where they are requesting five (5) times the state prison sentence of others similarly charged, there is a heightened need for transparency throughout the proceedings from start to finish.”
In regard to the proposed sentence, the lawyers insist the state’s first plea offer in January — a 35-year sentence, which Higgins rejected — was “greatly out of the range of other plea offers made in Salem County over the past few years” and a likely influenced by the case’s high profile in the public eye.
In exchange for a guilty plea to one count of second-degree death by auto, he received a seven-year sentence.
“If Mr. Higgins was a professional athlete or famous actor it is presumed that the State would not give him any preferential treatment. By way of the converse, his ability to effectively plea bargain should not be limited nor hampered by the fact that the victims’ status garners such publicity so as to influence the State’s position,” they wrote.
The National Post has contacted the prosecutor’s office and the Gaudreau family through its civil litigation lawyer for comment.
Final dispositions and motions are scheduled to be heard on April 15.
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