The driver accused of killing Gaudreau Brothers received an offer for the offer of bad guilt due to his fame, says the lawyers

Lawyers for man accused in the death of the NHL star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother in an accident last year Let’s say that your client has not received a fair supply offer because the victims are well known and the case has attracted international attention.

Sean M. Higgins, 44, of Pilesgrove, was supposedly intoxicated When he hit and killed Johnny Gaudreau, 31, and Matthew R. Gaudreau, 29, while riding bicycles along a rural road in Salem County on the night of August 29.

County prosecutors offered Higgins a guilt agreement that would be sentenced to 35 years in prison in exchange for a guilt declaration. His lawyers say that the figure is well above the types of sentences that they generally offer accused in similar cases of Salem County.

A defense motion filed on Tuesday seeks records of guilt offers for all cases of reckless vehicular homicide and aggravated homicides in Salem County since 2021.

The motion describes two recent cases of the Salem County in which the defendants faced positions similar to Higgins and higher concentrations of alcohol in the blood, but received guilt offers that sent them to prison for less than 35 years.

That offer is “largely outside the range” of other supplication offers made in the county in recent years, the Higgins lawyers wrote on a motion from the court presented on Tuesday.

It seems that prosecutors are incorrectly increasing the proposed jail “due to the advertising that surrounds the matter,” the lawyers claimed.

The officials of the Salem County Prosecutor’s Office declined to comment on Wednesday about the defense that the 35 -year -old Higgins offer is out of tune with other cases that the office has managed.

The office does not comment on specific offers and negotiations, said executive assistant Jeffrey Barile assistant by email.

“In addition, since the defense lawyer is doing this part of his litigation, we cannot comment on this argument outside the court,” said Barile.

Both parties are scheduled to return to the Court on March 26 to obtain arguments on defense motions.

A grand jury accused Higgins in December In two positions of aggravated homicide in the first degree, two charges of second -degree vehicle homicide, in the second degree that leaves the scene of a fatal accident and fourth grade manipulation with physical evidence.

Under the offer made to Higgins, that rejected last monthHe would have to declare himself guilty of both charges of aggravated homicide in exchange for 15 -year consecutive sentences for those charges. The offer would also require that it be guilty of the scene of a fatal accident position in exchange for a five -year recommended prison period for a total sentence of 35 years.

This motion challenging the supply of the plea was one of the various defense presented on Tuesday. Higgins lawyers also requested that their accusation be expelled and revealed in another presentation that the Gaudreau brothers were drinking before the accident.

In a document presented on Tuesday in search of more information about how the researchers reached blood alcohol concentration readings in the case, Higgins lawyers said the tests showed that Johnny Gaudreau had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.129% When he was killed while Matthew Gaudreau had a reading of 0.134%.

Both readings are higher than the supposed concentration of Higgins blood alcohol of 0.087%, which was above the legal limit of 0.08% for drivers.

Higgins lawyers did not allege in judicial documents that Gaudreaus blood alcohol levels had something to do with the accident.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Higgins lawyers said the judicial presentations were essential to ensure that their client is treated fairly and that their rights are protected, given the generalized attention that the case has received.

That advertising is why lawyers say they also want more information about the recent guilt agreements by the Salem County Prosecutor’s Office.

To illustrate their demand for unfair treatment for Higgins, they referred to the supplications in two cases of fatal accidents in Salem County.

David M. Thomas, 39, killed another motorist When their vehicles collided straight ahead in the municipality of Pennsville in 2020. An open alcohol container was found in Thomas’s vehicle and declared in the scene that he had been drinking alcohol just before driving, according to judicial documents.

Thomas’s blood alcohol concentration was measured at 0.156%, police said.

Thomas was accused of second degree by automatic charge and several positions of aggravated third grade assault. According to a guilt agreement, he was sentenced to seven years in a state prison in 2021 after declaring himself guilty of a second -degree vehicular homicide charge and concurrent prison conditions for four charges of aggravated aggression.

Another case cited by Higgins lawyers also involved a motorist who hit a cyclist.

Deandra L. Brown Palmer, 44, admitted to taking several alcohol and smoking marijuana Before getting behind the wheel last July with a child in his vehicle. He hit and killed a cyclist, Douglas W. Nutt, 62, at the top of Pyttsgrove.

Brown Palmer’s blood alcohol concentration was measured at 0.22%, according to judicial statements. He was accused of charges that include first -degree aggravated homicide, second degree death by car, endangering the well -being of a child and avoiding a police officer.

According to a guilt declaration agreement with Salem County prosecutors, Brown Palmer declared himself guilty of a single second degree death count by order in exchange for a sentence of seven years in prison.

In the case of Higgins, the Prosecutor’s Office says it was driving north on Route 551/Pennsville-Auburn Road in Oldmans Township when he tried to spend vehicles in front of him on August 29.

He tried to pass a SUV on the right side and hit the Gaudreaus while riding their bicycles on the road shoulder, prosecutors allege.

The drivers of the two vehicles that Higgins passed before the fatal accident described their driving as erratic and aggressive, and one said that his vehicle was partially in the grass when he hit the Gaudreaus, according to judicial documents.

Higgins, who failed a sobriety test in the country .

Supposedly he also admitted to having tried to hide beer cans after hitting the Gaudreaus.

Higgins told police that their alcohol consumption “contributed to their impatience and reckless driving” on the night of the accident, investigators claimed in judicial documents.