Defense attorneys say Gaudreau brothers were drunk at time of fatal crash
This article was updated to correct a sentence.
Blue Jackets player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother were legally drunk when a driver struck and killed them while bicycling last year, a defense motion submitted Tuesday alleged.
Documents filed by the attorney for Sean Higgins, who is accused of killing Johnny Gaudreau, 31, and his brother Matthew, 29, states Johnny had a blood alcohol level of .129 and Matthew had a blood alcohol level of .134.
New Jersey State Police identified Higgins as the driver. Body camera video from Higgins' arrest shows him performing field sobriety tests and admitting to consuming beers before and while driving. Prosecutors said Higgins' blood alcohol level was registered at .087, also above the legal limit.
The two died Aug. 29 after they were struck from behind by a Jeep driven by Higgins, according to police. The brothers had been in their hometown for their sister's wedding. They were bicycling around 8 p.m. in Oldmans Township, New Jersey, when a Jeep went around another vehicle in front of it onto the right shoulder and struck them.
The court filings do not allege that the brothers' blood alcohol levels played any part in the crash, but Higgins' attorney wants more information about how investigators collected that information.
Under New Jersey law, there is no specific legal limit for alcohol consumption for operating a manual bicycle, according to New Jersey-based Kugel Law Firm, which specializes in DUIs.
Higgins appeared Tuesday in New Jersey court at a pre-trial conference in Salem County. He faces six criminal counts, including reckless vehicular homicide and aggravated manslaughter in the brothers' deaths and remains jailed.
Tuesday's hearing focused on the legal issues that Higgins' defense team plans to raise to have some or all of the charges dismissed. Attorneys Richard Klineburger and Matthew Portello, who are representing Higgins, filed an application Tuesday to file a motion to dismiss the indictment against Higgins.
At a hearing in January, prosecutors offered to allow Higgins to plead guilty to two counts of aggravated manslaughter and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. The plea would have resulted in a recommended prison sentence of 15 years for each of the aggravated manslaughter charges and five years for the leaving the scene charge for a total of 35 years in prison.
Court records and documents released by New Jersey police said witnesses described Higgins as driving aggressively and speeding, approaching a vehicle in front of him and then falling back to speed back up on the vehicle again.
At a previous hearing, prosecutors said Higgins drove around one vehicle to the left, and when another vehicle moved to the left to make room for the brothers, Higgins went around that vehicle on the right and struck the brothers.
Court records say Higgins told police he didn't see the brothers on their bicycles.
Neither the Gaudreau family attorney or the attorney representing Higgins could be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.
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