Douche-Bag New Jersey State Police Trooper Robert Higbee, Unable To Accept Criminal Responsibility For Killing Teen Sisters When He Ran Stopsign At 69 MPH, Contesting Every Detail Of Proceedings Against Him
CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE, NEW JERSEY — The indictment against State Police Trooper Robert Higbee charging him with vehicular homicide in the deaths of two Upper Township sisters will stand, Superior Court Judge Carmen Alvarez ruled Friday.
In a six-page decision, Alvarez found the grand jury proceedings that led to the indictment were conducted properly, that there was no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct and no cause to dismiss the indictment.
Alvarez, however, did grant the defense’s request to conduct a hearing on the admissibility of data obtained from the black box — the device that records speed, braking and other data — in Higbee’s police car.
Higbee was indicted in February on two counts of vehicular homicide in the Sept. 27 deaths of Jacqueline and Christina Becker.
The sisters were traveling west on Old Tuckahoe Road in Marmora when Higbee ran a stop sign at the intersection of Stagecoach Road and crashed into the minivan in which they were riding.
Jacqueline G. Becker, 17, who was driving, and Christina M. Becker, 19, were pronounced dead at the scene.
Defense attorney D. William Subin received the judge’s ruling late Friday afternoon and said he had informed Higbee of the decision.
The defense had argued that First Assistant Prosecutor J. David Meyer did not instruct the grand jury correctly regarding what constitutes vehicular homicide and that the jury was told to hold Higbee to a higher standard.
Alvarez disagreed.
“The instructions given by the prosecutor were clearly adequate,” Alvarez wrote.
Instead, Alvarez found “the prosecutor presented the circumstances of the crash in detailed fashion including that one of the victims was not wearing her seat belt.”
Alvarez found it was appropriate for the grand jurors to consider the individual situation “whether Higbee was operating his motor vehicle in a reckless manner given his duties and responsibilities including exemption from rules of the road applicable to other drivers.”
The judge ruled that Higbee’s Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights were not violated and that “no expectation of privacy attaches to the data recorded in a vehicle’s black box. The speed of travel of a trooper’s patrol car is ‘held out to the public’ as the vehicle is operated on public roadways.”
Alvarez also called a statement made during the grand jury proceeding, that Higbee never went below 70 mph, a minor mistake. The report from the black box found the speed at the point of impact may have been 68.89 mph.
In addition, the judge found the dismissal of two grand jurors who had information about the case was handled appropriately.
Subin said he would review the judge’s decision to determine if he would pursue an appeal.
As for the black box, Alvarez said it was reasonable to hold a hearing on the device’s scientific reliability given that while other jurisdictions have found the data admissible, there is no New Jersey opinion on the issue.
Meyer, who said Friday he was pleased with the judge’s decision on the indictment, previously argued before the judge that the information taken from the black box is not novel scientific evidence given its wide acceptance throughout the country.
Higbee is slated to return to court Friday afternoon for a status conference, and a date for an expert hearing on the black box evidence will be set sometime after that.
He faces as many as 20 years in prison if convicted on both counts.
In a six-page decision, Alvarez found the grand jury proceedings that led to the indictment were conducted properly, that there was no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct and no cause to dismiss the indictment.
Alvarez, however, did grant the defense’s request to conduct a hearing on the admissibility of data obtained from the black box — the device that records speed, braking and other data — in Higbee’s police car.
Higbee was indicted in February on two counts of vehicular homicide in the Sept. 27 deaths of Jacqueline and Christina Becker.
The sisters were traveling west on Old Tuckahoe Road in Marmora when Higbee ran a stop sign at the intersection of Stagecoach Road and crashed into the minivan in which they were riding.
Jacqueline G. Becker, 17, who was driving, and Christina M. Becker, 19, were pronounced dead at the scene.
Defense attorney D. William Subin received the judge’s ruling late Friday afternoon and said he had informed Higbee of the decision.
The defense had argued that First Assistant Prosecutor J. David Meyer did not instruct the grand jury correctly regarding what constitutes vehicular homicide and that the jury was told to hold Higbee to a higher standard.
Alvarez disagreed.
“The instructions given by the prosecutor were clearly adequate,” Alvarez wrote.
Instead, Alvarez found “the prosecutor presented the circumstances of the crash in detailed fashion including that one of the victims was not wearing her seat belt.”
Alvarez found it was appropriate for the grand jurors to consider the individual situation “whether Higbee was operating his motor vehicle in a reckless manner given his duties and responsibilities including exemption from rules of the road applicable to other drivers.”
The judge ruled that Higbee’s Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights were not violated and that “no expectation of privacy attaches to the data recorded in a vehicle’s black box. The speed of travel of a trooper’s patrol car is ‘held out to the public’ as the vehicle is operated on public roadways.”
Alvarez also called a statement made during the grand jury proceeding, that Higbee never went below 70 mph, a minor mistake. The report from the black box found the speed at the point of impact may have been 68.89 mph.
In addition, the judge found the dismissal of two grand jurors who had information about the case was handled appropriately.
Subin said he would review the judge’s decision to determine if he would pursue an appeal.
As for the black box, Alvarez said it was reasonable to hold a hearing on the device’s scientific reliability given that while other jurisdictions have found the data admissible, there is no New Jersey opinion on the issue.
Meyer, who said Friday he was pleased with the judge’s decision on the indictment, previously argued before the judge that the information taken from the black box is not novel scientific evidence given its wide acceptance throughout the country.
Higbee is slated to return to court Friday afternoon for a status conference, and a date for an expert hearing on the black box evidence will be set sometime after that.
He faces as many as 20 years in prison if convicted on both counts.
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Original news article
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