Higbee Trial Draws National Media Spotlight

COURT HOUSE — The trial of State Trooper Robert Higbee, who is charged with two counts of vehicular homicide in the deaths of two Upper Township sisters, will have a national audience’s attention.
TruTV, a national cable network, plans to broadcast the trial starting with opening arguments during their In Session programming.
In Session, the successor to Court TV News, provides live coverage of trials, legal news, and details of highly-publicized crimes during their news programming hours from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Their coverage takes viewers into the courtrooms and shares analysis from anchors and guests to help viewers understand legal proceedings.
Tim Sullivan, senior vice president of In Session, told the Herald that the trial has all the makings for a really good news story that garners viewers’ interests.
On Sept. 27, 2006, just after 10 p.m., Higbee’s patrol car crashed into a minivan, the two sisters, Christina, 19, and Jacqueline, 17, Becker were driving in. They were pronounced dead at the scene. Now, over two years later, a jury must decide whether Higbee acted recklessly when he ran a stop sign at the intersection of Stagecoach and Tuckahoe roads.
“The girls were running an errand. They were innocent bystanders. And it is not every day that you see a law enforcement officer charged with vehicular homicide and looking at possibility of 20 years if he is found guilty,” Sullivan said.
“The stakes are high for everyone involved,” he added.
Sullivan said that this trial is significant because of the public interest in law enforcement policy.
Higbee has told investigators he was pursuing a speeder that night and was attempting to close the gap between himself and that other driver when the collision took place.
“It makes for a good debate,” Sullivan noted. “What precautions should take place during when officers engage in a chase? Should a chase be initiated? The public is very interested to see what, if any, policy changes come out of this case,” he added.
Of the 12 to 15 court trials that In Session covers, Sullivan said that two might have a law enforcement official involved.
Sullivan said that coverage of the trial is routine, even if the case is unique.
In Session plans to start filming during opening arguments, which could start in the morning of Wednesday, May 6.
“We’ll be there gavel to gavel,” said Sullivan.
He noted that because the network is also covering other legal stories around the country, live coverage could be interrupted, but the crew will be filming every day of the case.
A truck that looks like it came off a Star Wars set, wires snaking throughout the court house, cameras in the court room, and a make-shift “base of operations” in the law library is all part of the television process.
Sullivan said that two cameras will be in the court room, one with a view as if you were in the audience and the other positioned to see the faces of the attorneys, defendant and judge.
The faces of the jury can’t be shown, he said.
One camera operator will run both cameras and an audio technician will be present to make sure the sound recorded is fit for television.
In addition to giving viewers a live look at what goes on in the court room, three shows are featured: Open Court with Lisa Bloom, Best Defense with Jami Floyd and Courtside with Ashleigh Banfield and Jack Ford.
Outside the courtroom a reporter is stationed to cover the entire goings on of the trial that is missed by the cameras. The crew also needs a field producer and staff to run the live feed in the satellite truck.
It may sound like quite an entourage, but Sullivan said that is the “minimum needed to cover a trial well.”
“We’ve done 800 trials in the past 18 years, by now we’ve got it down to an exact science,” he said.
To view TruTV’s In Session programming, check local cable provider for listing details. To view In Session’s coverage of the trial on your computer, go to www.cnn.com/CRIME.
The case also has altered operations at the courthouse.
The public can only enter from the western side of the building, adjacent to the parking lot, while only employees can enter through the eastern side of the building facing Route 9.
Inside the courtroom, white sheets of paper mark which seats have been reserved for the defense, the prosecution and the media. The reserved seating will take effect when the jurors are selected.