Defense attorneys for the New Jersey man accused of killing Columbus Blue Jackets forward Johnny Gaudreau and his brother in an August 2024 crash will retest their client's blood from that night.
Sean Higgins, 44, appeared Sept. 11 via video conference in Salem County Superior Court, where he faces charges including reckless vehicular homicide and aggravated manslaughter in connection with the Aug. 29, 2024, deaths of Gaudreau, 31, and his brother Matthew Gaudreau, 29.
The Sept. 11 video conference happened a day after attorneys and the judge met to discuss procedural issues, Judge Michael Silvanio said. Defense attorney Richard Klineburger III said the issues have to do with data and diagrams from state police, including a crash reconstruction
report and blood testing.
Depending on the evidence prosecutors share and the results of the new blood test, the defense might ask for a hearing to determine whether to exclude evidence or witness testimony at trial, Klineburger said.
Silvanio declined to issue any orders, saying prosecutors and defense attorneys have shown a good-faith effort.
"You all have been working well together to move this case forward," Silvanio said.
He scheduled an in-person, final pretrial conference for Oct. 19. If there is no resolution to the case by then, two weeks of jury selection will start Dec. 1, with a trial tentatively set to begin Jan. 5.
What happened on the night of the crash that killed Johnny Gaudreau?
The brothers were riding bicycles single file in Oldmans Township, New Jersey, when state police allege a drunken Higgins aggressively drove a Jeep Grand Cherokee onto the shoulder to pass a vehicle that had moved to the left to make room for the brothers. Higgins drove away after hitting them, only stopping a quarter-mile away after the SUV broke down. Police allege in court records and previous testimony that Higgins told them he was drinking before and while driving and threw several beer cans into a field near where his vehicle broke down.
Silvanio denied a request May 11 from Higgins' attorneys to dismiss some or all of the charges against their client after alleging police did not properly test his blood sample and that his blood alcohol level was under the legal limit. He ruled that was for a jury to decide.
Dispatch editor Bethany Bruner contribted to this report.
Breaking/trending editor Nathaniel Shuda can be reached at nshuda@dispatch.com or @NathanielShuda on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Defense to retest blood as Johnny Gaudreau crash case nears trial
