Keep Gaudreau brothers’ intoxication levels out of fatal crash trial, prosecutor says

Prosecutors want a judge to bar admission of the Gaudreau brothers’ toxicology reports from the trial of the man charged with killing them last year.

Those toxicology reports show that hockey star Johnny Gaudreau, 31, and Matthew R. Gaudreau, 29, were intoxicated when Sean M. Higgins, 44, of Pilesgrove, hit them with his vehicle as they bicycled along a rural road in Salem County on the evening of Aug. 29, according to court documents.

Higgins, who prosecutors say was also intoxicated at the time, was indicted in December on two counts of first-degree aggravated manslaughter, two counts of second-degree vehicular homicide, second-degree leaving the scene of a fatal accident and fourth-degree tampering with physical evidence.

Defense attorneys argue the indictment should be dismissed because the grand jury wasn’t told about possible “contributory negligence” by the Gaudreau brothers in their own deaths, namely the fact that they were drunk.

Prosecutor Michael Mestern countered that the brothers’ toxicology reports are irrelevant to the case because there is no law against bicycling while intoxicated. He also pointed to multiple witness accounts as proof that the crash was entirely Higgins’ fault.

Higgins’ attorneys revealed in February court filings that Johnny Gaudreau had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.129% when he was killed, while his brother Matthew Gaudreau had a reading of 0.134%.

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

No evidence has been presented to claim the brothers were riding their bikes improperly and witnesses to the crash told detectives the men were not in the roadway when they were hit.

Well, they’ll stone ya when you’re trying to be so good
They’ll stone ya just a-like they said they would
They’ll stone ya when you’re tryin’ to go home
Then they’ll stone ya when you’re there all alone

But I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned

Well, they’ll stone ya when you’re walkin’ ‘long the street
They’ll stone ya when you’re tryin’ to keep your seat
They’ll stone ya when you’re walkin’ on the floor
They’ll stone ya when you’re walkin’ to the door

But I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned

They’ll stone ya when you’re at the breakfast table
They’ll stone ya when you are young and able
They’ll stone ya when you’re tryin’ to make a buck
They’ll stone ya and then they’ll say, “Good luck”

Tell ya what, I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned

Well, they’ll stone you and say that it’s the end
Then they’ll stone you and then they’ll come back again
They’ll stone you when you’re riding in your car
They’ll stone you when you’re playing your guitar

Yes, but I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned

Well, they’ll stone you when you walk all alone
They’ll stone you when you are walking home
They’ll stone you and then say you are brave
They’ll stone you when you are set down in your grave

But I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned
https://www.songlyrics.com/bob-dylan/everybody-must-get-stoned-lyrics/

I remember hearing that on the radio. It was a monster hit.
Bob’s gravelly ramble of a singing voice fit this song to a T. If a vocally superior singer had covered this song, somebody immediately impressive, such as Robert Goulet, the song would have lost it’s power, or it’s gravitas.
It would have simply become a recital of a well known recording.

Maybe you have a vivid imagination.

He did not even see them being in a blind rage at the other driver because the other driver did not see fit to drive like a drunken crazed imbecile.

That is what drunken rage driving like a lunatic says anyway.

And I do tend to believe him.

You are free to believe it was premediated based on things that did not happen of course. Which would make it murder in the first.

Actually if you count all the wheels - including the bicycles - there were 16 wheels, 3 cars and 2 bikes.

The jerk who killed them was the 3rd car back. He passed the 2nd car back on the left and then went around the 1st car on the right (who was moving wide to the left around the cyclists for more space between them).

Only 1 of the brothers was a pro hockey player and they were together that night as one of them (can’t remember which) was getting married the next day.

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