The NHL player’s family, Johnny Gaudreau, and his brother Matthew, heard the pain on Tuesday, while lawyers discussed whether the men’s drink contributed to their death when they were run over by a presumably drunken driver and angry as they circulated at night.
After almost two hours of argument, a judge agreed that the matter was under New Jersey’s criminal law, defending all accusations against the driver, including the slaughter and the vehicular homicide.
« There is no credence in the argument that there was a contributory negligence by the cyclists, » said Judge of Supreme Court Michael Silvanio.
According to the defense, the Gaudreaus had blood alcohol levels of. 129 or higher, higher than the .08 Legal limit in New Jersey and the blood alcohol content that police registered for Sean Higgins. His lawyers had hoped to reduce or dismiss the murder charges of slaughter and vehicles.
« To say that his BAC may have contributed to the cause of death is a scope to say -less, » argued the attached prosecutor Michael Mestern.
He said that other drivers told the police that the brothers were on the road, without weaving traffic, he said. Prosecutors have accused Higgins of being affected by alcohol and fueled by the rage of the road when he encountered.
« There are four witnesses who witnessed the defendant who went through speed and illegally passing the bronch to the right when he hit the brothers. Witnesses also saw that the brothers mounted a single file, with the flow of traffic, on the fog line just before being hit by the defendant, » he wrote Master in a note this month.
The Gaudreaus were bicycles near their hometown in the south of New Jersey on the wedding of their sister on August 29. The two women have given birth to their children. Johnny Gaudreau’s widow, Meredith, gave birth to his third child on April 1. The sister’s wedding was postponed until this summer.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as « Johnny Hockey », played ten full seasons in the NHL and began to begin his third with the blue Jackets of Columbus. He interpreted his first eight seasons with the flames of Calgary.
The driver told the police that he drank 6 beers before the fall
44 -year -old Higgins of Woodstown in New Jersey, each counts is accused of each of aggravated killings and reckless vehicle homicide, along with tests that manipulate and leave the scene of an accident. He was found next to his damaged vehicle to a quarter of a mile of the scene.
A combat veteran and married father of two who worked for an addiction treatment company, told the police that he had consumed about half a dozen beers that day, some while driving, after an annoying telephone call with his mother.
Higgins’ lawyers, although they also said that the Gaudreaus biking without lights after the dark, said that they did not try to blame or contribute to the pain of the family, but only give their client a robust defense.
« The Lord (Richard) Klineburger and I are not blaming the two cyclists in the incident. This would be ridiculous. This would be wrong, » said lawyer Matthew Portella as Gaudreaus’s parents and sisters smiled.
Portella, on the other hand, argued that the Grand Jury did not hear all the facts before it approved the charges that he claimed that Higgins was intentionally reckless and left the scene.
Mester called the indictment sound and the judge agreed, sending the charges to the trial and programming the next hearing on June 10.
Higgins faces a maximum of 70 years in prison if convicted of all cases. His lawyers have rejected a 35 -year -old supply offer.
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