Closing the Gap (ePub)

Thirty-four-year-old New Jersey State Trooper Robert Higbee lay on

his back in an Atlantic City Hospital room. His 6'8" frame hardly

fit into the bed. Just hours before at 10:00 p.m., Higbee sustained a concussion when the patrol car in which he was "closing the gap" on a

speeder, collided with a van crossing through an intersection ahead of

him. Tragically, the two teenage sisters in the van died at the scene.

The next morning, I received a phone call from the State Troopers

Fraternal Association of New Jersey (STFA), the organization

that represents the state's law enforcement officers. I was already on

their approved attorney's list and had previously answered "critical

incident matters" on their behalf. I was now being asked to represent

Trooper Higbee regarding any repercussions related to the accident.

Within an hour I was at the hospital. Higbee was still in a daze.

I had no idea at that moment I met him, how closely our lives would

become connected.

Five months later, a Cape May County grand jury indicted

Trooper Higbee on the charge of vehicular homicide, a crime that

carries a penalty of up to twenty years in prison. My job was to establish

conclusively that Higbee had acted neither intentionally nor

recklessly, only that he had made a tragic mistake in the dark of

night, at a poorly marked intersection in rural Cape May County,

New Jersey.

The heaviest burden that can be placed upon a defense attorney

is in knowing that the fate of an innocent person rests in your hands.

The following two-and-a-half years would prove to be the most demanding and excruciating I have ever experienced in my career as

a criminal trial lawyer.