Fellow troopers showed support throughout trial
Shortly after Trooper Robert Higbee heard the "not guilty" verdict that ended his vehicular-homicide trial yesterday, he turned around and scanned the crowd behind him.
Shortly after Trooper Robert Higbee heard the "not guilty" verdict that ended his vehicular-homicide trial yesterday, he turned around and scanned the crowd behind him.
"Thank you very much," he said to a courtroom packed with law enforcement officers.
Higbee smashed into a minivan after running a stop sign during a high-speed pursuit in 2006, killing two sisters. The case touched a nerve with his fellow officers, who showed up in droves to watch a trial that could have ended with a 20-year prison sentence.
"We're all friends of his," Lt. Tom King said. "It's the right thing to do."
A rotating cast of 60 state troopers filled the seats every day inside the Cape May County courthouse during Higbee's trial, lending constant support. As word spread yesterday afternoon that a verdict was near, the ranks swelled to full capacity.
"There are actually more troopers than there are seats," Dave Jones, president of the New Jersey State Troopers Fraternal Association, said at one point as he surveyed the scene.
For weeks, about 40 troopers could be seen inside the courtroom at all times, far outweighing the handful of family members surrounding Maria Caiafa, the victims' mother.
Jones said he thought the troopers' presence in the courtroom likely had less impact on the jury than the presence of the victims' family but was still important in establishing Higbee's character.
"It's a testimony to the person that Rob is; it's testimony to the chilling effect a [guilty verdict] in this case could've had," he said.
As the verdict was read, the capacity courtroom fell silent. Despite getting the result they desired, troopers said they decided to restrain any emotional outburst and leave quietly out of respect for the victims and their family. A couple of minutes after the verdict, Higbee and Caiafa met privately in a nearby office.
While some in law enforcement took issue with the prosecution's use of an in-vehicle data recorder to detail Higbee's speed and braking leading up to the crash, Jones said he did not believe Higbee should have been charged in the first place.