Man accused of killing hockey’s Gaudreau brothers in drunken-driving incident had blood-alcohol level below legal limit, lawyer says
Lawyers for Sean M. Higgins say prosecutors failed to make a conversion in the 45-year-old's blood sample that would have put him below the 0.08 threshold that August 2024 evening.
The man accused of killing National Hockey League star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother in a drunken-driving incident in South Jersey had a blood-alcohol content under the legal limit, his attorneys said in a court filing seeking to dismiss the charges against him.
Sean M. Higgins, 45, was arrested in August 2024 after striking Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, with his car in Salem County as they biked home from their sister’s wedding rehearsal. They were to participate as groomsmen the next day in the wedding, which was postponed.
He was attempting to pass two vehicles on County Road 551 in Oldmans Township when he fatally struck the brothers from behind in his Jeep Grand Cherokee around 8:20 p.m., according to prosecutors.
Police said Higgins’ blood-alcohol content was 0.087 that night; the legal threshold for intoxication in New Jersey is 0.08.
A grand jury later indicted Higgins on two counts reckless vehicular homicide, two counts of aggravated manslaughter, and related crimes.
But Higgins’ attorney, Richard F. Klineburger III, said prosecutors relied on a blood sample that was not properly converted to get an accurate blood-alcohol content reading.
Had the sample been handled correctly, Klineburger said, they would have found that Higgins’ blood-alcohol level that evening was slightly below the legal threshold for intoxication.
By failing to properly handle the test, prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence from the grand jury, he said, and as a consequence, the indictment should be dismissed.
Klineburger did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for May 11.
Salem County prosecutors, for their part, say that their case against Higgins is strong and that Klineburger’s finding does not alter their conclusion that Higgins had acted recklessly and with an extreme indifference to human life.
In a response to the filing, Assistant Prosecutor Michael Mestern said his legal team disagreed with Klineburger’s contentions about the blood-alcohol content analysis and had an expert who would refute the suggestion that Higgins’ level was below the legal limit.
He also noted that Higgins’ legal team did not raise its concern about the test result until more than a year after the grand jury proceeding, and said prosecutors could not have omitted evidence that did not exist at the time of their grand jury presentation.
Moreover, he said, blood-alcohol content was just one element in a compelling collection of evidence.
Prosecutors cited witnesses who told investigators that Higgins was driving recklessly and that the Gaudreau brothers had not been cycling in the driving lane before the crash.
Higgins failed field sobriety tests after police arrived, prosecutors said, and he admitted to consuming alcohol both before entering his vehicle and during the drive.
And Higgins did not stop to render aid after striking the brothers, prosecutors said, bolstering their argument that he had acted recklessly.
The Salem County Prosecutors Office did not return a request for comment Tuesday.
The deaths of Johnny, 31, and Matthew, 29, shook the hockey community. Both men played at Boston College, and Matthew Gaudreau went on to play in the minor leagues and coach youth teams.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey” by fans, played eight seasons in the NHL with the Calgary Flames and two with the Columbus Blue Jackets and was a seven time All-Star.
