{"product_id":"9781935232704","title":"Closing the Gap: The Trial of Trooper Robert Higbee","description":"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.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe next morning, I received a phone call from the State Troopers\u003cbr\u003eFraternal 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\u003cbr\u003eTrooper Higbee regarding any repercussions related to the accident.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eWithin an hour I was at the hospital. Higbee was still in a daze.\u003cbr\u003eI had no idea at that moment I met him, how closely our lives would become connected.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eFive months later, a Cape May County grand jury indicted\u003cbr\u003eTrooper 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,\u003cbr\u003eNew Jersey.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe heaviest burden that can be placed upon a defense attorney is in knowing that the fate of an innocent person rests in your hands.\u003cbr\u003eThe 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.","brand":"ComteQ Communications, LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47141422235888,"sku":"9781935232704","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781935232704_p0.jpg?v=1763655641","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781935232704","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}