Sean M. Higgins, the 44-year-old New Jersey resident charged with driving under the influence and killing Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew, pleaded not guilty to all charges Tuesday.
Higgins appeared at an arraignment hearing in Salem County, New Jersey, where his attorneys entered the not-guilty plea on his behalf.
Salem County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Mestern said Higgins was offered a plea bargain of consecutive sentences of 15 years each for two charges of aggravated manslaughter. It called for an additional five-year term for leaving the scene of a fatal accident, for a total of 35 years.
Additional charges for reckless vehicular homicide and tampering with physical evidence would have been dropped had Higgins accepted the plea.
Instead, Higgins will now face up to 60 years in prison — 30 for each of the two counts aggravated manslaughter charges — if convicted.
The defense plans to submit a motion to remove certain counts on the indictment but did not go into specifics as to what those counts were.
Prosecutors have said that Higgins had a blood alcohol level of 0.087 at the time of the crash, above the legal limit in the state of New Jersey.
Higgins continues to be held at the Salem County Jail.
The next hearing is currently scheduled for Feb. 4.
