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Johnny Gaudreau and His Brother Matthew Gaudreau Dead After Being Struck by Vehicle in New Jersey


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Anybody find any video or info from his second court appearance? 

 

Actually nothing until his next court date 9/13.

 

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Sean Higgins, who allegedly struck and killed NHL star Johnny Gaudreau and brother Matthew Gaudreau while intoxicated, will remain in jail for at least one more week.

Higgins, 43, appeared in court via Zoom for a pretrial hearing on Thursday.

Superior Court Judge Michael Silvanio said the defense and prosecutors met before the hearing and agreed to ask for three business days each to file documents, exhibits and potential legal briefs. The next hearing is scheduled for September 13.

 

Newsweek Article

Edited by Scott
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On 9/3/2024 at 11:02 AM, BrooksBurner said:


Bicyclists in general are crazy. I see it in NC, some of the roads they go on with little-to-no shoulder, and higher speed roads too like 45-55, and hills and curves and blindspots. It baffles me why anyone would take the risk when it only takes one driver to be distracted or make a bad decision - not even talking about a drunk asshole.

 

Curves are extremely high danger spots because drivers have no view of the bicyclist before they are right on them.

 

The main artery in my area has competitive bicyclists on it all the time.  They ride on it because there is only one serious hill on a 10 mile stretch.

 

I drive by them all the time and I can give them the 3 feet that CT law requires.  However there are two curves on that stretch where if I ever met a bicyclist and a vehicle coming the other way at the same time it'd be very iffy.

Edited by Br4d
Uninventing a unique sentence structure
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1 hour ago, Scott said:

Anybody find any video or info from his second court appearance? 

 

Actually nothing until his next court date 9/13.

 

 

Newsweek Article

 

Can you imagine being this guy's lawyer?

 

No defense is going to work.  All you can do is do your best to try to find a plea bargain that does not land your client in jail for 20+ years.

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The fact that 20 years seems to be the absolute max here, assuming they run consecutively is horrifying to me.   Probably decent odds he doesn't the the max (10x2) which makes it even more sickening.

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Man Charged In Death of Gaudreau Brothers Had .087% BAC

 

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PHILADELPHIA -- The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood alcohol level of .087%, above the .08% legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.

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The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that Higgins be held for trial despite defense arguments that he was a married father and law-abiding citizen before the crash.

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Higgins also had a history of road rage and reckless driving, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County. He said that Higgins apparently became frustrated when the two drivers ahead of him slowed down to go around the cyclists and that he sped up to try to pass the other cars on the right, striking the Gaudreaus.

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Higgins faces up to 20 years, a sentence the judge said made him a flight risk.

Higgins has a master's degree, works in finance for an addiction treatment company and served in combat in Iraq, his lawyers said. However, his wife said he had been drinking regularly since working from home and told them he had a history of "driving like a nut," prosecutors said.

 

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Plea bargain.

 

Some level of imprisonment that satisfies the need for punishment.  5-10 years handled normally on one count  10 year suspended sentence running consecutively with the first count, activation of sentence in full to occur if any of the terms below are not met.

 

AA attendance while in prison.   

 

Community service both in prison and after to speak about the dangers of DUI, road rage, reckless driving - no termination date on this requirement. 

 

No alcohol or other intoxicant consumption for the rest of his life.

 

Practical driving restrictions as the authorities see fit when he is finally released.  No driver's license for a minimum of 5 years post-release in any case.

 

Just throwing the book at him does nothing at all for the families of the victims here.  Give him that package above and they can at least take some comfort in the fact that the guy who killed their sons, husbands and dads is paying the price in a way that maybe stops a similar incident in the future.

Edited by Br4d
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8 minutes ago, phillyb said:

We don’t do reform here, but that is very diplomatic of you to suggest. 

 

I was thinking of it as enhanced punishment.

 

Imagine having to do stand-ups in front of groups for the rest of your life in which you had to explain how you killed 2 human beings through a combination of DUI, road rage and reckless driving.

 

And then not being able to throw back a cold one afterwards.

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Great, he can make those speeches within the jail or in a scared straight scenario. I believe in rehabilitation but not for those who because of their recklessness killed two very innocent people regardless or whether or not they're nhl'ers. 

 

At twenty years max even if he served all of them he's getting off easy. 

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5 minutes ago, Scott said:

Great, he can make those speeches within the jail or in a scared straight scenario. I believe in rehabilitation but not for those who because of their recklessness killed two very innocent people regardless or whether or not they're nhl'ers. 

 

At twenty years max even if he served all of them he's getting off easy. 

 

That's the point though.  The sentence will never equal the crime in this case and 20 years will not be 20 years served it will be 13 or something like that.

 

You do my plea bargain and the guy gets out in 3-10 years but spends the rest of his life paying for those two killings.

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1 hour ago, Br4d said:

 

That's the point though.  The sentence will never equal the crime in this case and 20 years will not be 20 years served it will be 13 or something like that.

 

You do my plea bargain and the guy gets out in 3-10 years but spends the rest of his life paying for those two killings.

Couldn't disagree more, as little as 3 and at the most 10 years in is an insult to those families who are now without their father, brother husbands etc.  Sure nothing will bring them back but make this guy feel the pain of sitting and staring at being confined everyday for as long as possible.  

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