Prosecutors hit back at claims the New Jersey man who allegedly fatally mowed down NHL star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother wasn’t actually drunk — and say they have plenty of other damning evidence anyway.
Sean Higgins, 44, who is charged with reckless vehicular homicide and aggravated manslaughter, showed “extreme indifference to human life” in the August 2024 alleged hit-and-run, prosecutor Michael Mestern wrote in papers made public Monday.
Higgins has been seeking to get the case thrown out on the grounds that a defense expert found that his blood-alcohol content was actually .075, below the legal limit of .08 and below .087 – the level prosecutors claim Higgins had the night of the crash.
“The state intends to refute that opinion,” Mestern wrote. “It is only one chemist’s opinion attacking the credibility of one piece of the state’s evidence in this matter.”
In addition to Higgins’ alleged BAC of .087, Mestern says a slew of additional evidence “will establish defendant’s reckless conduct on the day in question and how it amounted to an extreme indifference to human life.”
This includes that Higgins didn’t stop to try to help the hockey player brothers Johnny, 31, and Matthew, 29, after he ran them over with his SUV, Mestern alleged.
Additional evidence includes that the officer at the scene “smelled alcohol coming from” Higgins, that Higgins failed field sobriety tests, that he admitted to having five or six drinks and that he was driving recklessly, Mestern wrote.
Mestern asked a judge to deny Higgins’ bid to get the case thrown out based on arguments the grand jury who indicted him was “misled” and presented with “half-truth,” Higgins’ defense team wrote in papers earlier this month.
