LAWYER SAYS ROCKLAND GRAND JURY WON'T CHARGE HIGINIO

The lawyer for a former Elmsford basketball star facing multiple gun
and drug charges following a traffic stop in West Nyack said
yesterday that a Rockland grand jury declined to indict his client.

The grand jury returned no charges after hearing testimony from
Gerson Higinio, 27, of Elmsford, said his lawyer, John J. Kelleher of Albany.

Rockland Chief Assistant District Attorney Louis Valvo said yesterday
that prosecutors are precluded by law from commenting on grand jury
decisions until a case is finalized.

"We can't comment until either an indictment or dismissals are filed
by a grand jury," Valvo said. "There is a co-defendant and matters
are still open and pending before the grand jury."

Kelleher also declined to discuss his client's testimony yesterday
before the grand jury.

But Kelleher said Higinio told him that the heroin, crack and machine
gun found in the Honda he was driving Tuesday on the New York State
Thruway in West Nyack were not his.

Higinio's car was stopped by a state trooper from Troop T in
Tarrytown for driving at a high rate of speed, police said. Higinio
told the trooper that he was driving with a suspended license.

A search of the trunk revealed a 9 mm Intratec with its serial
numbers rubbed off, 12 ounces of crack and powdered cocaine and 12
wax packets of heroin, state police said.

Higinio told his lawyer that he drove to the Bronx to pick up a
friend, Adolph Lauriano, 29, of Schenectady, N.Y., whom he planned to
drive home. Higinio said Lauriano put the bag in the trunk. Higinio
told his lawyer that he never saw the contents of the bag.

Both men were charged with first-degree criminal possession of a
controlled substance, third-degree criminal possession of a
controlled substance with intent to sell, third-degree criminal
possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a weapon and defacing
a gun, all felonies.

They also faced misdemeanor charges of criminal possession of drug
paraphernalia and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Higinio additionally was charged with second-degree criminal
impersonation, a misdemeanor, and falsifying records, a felony.

Kelleher said the charges against his client were being dropped.

Higinio was also wanted in Greenburgh on a warrant issued in July
2002 on misdemeanor charges of possession of stolen property and
resisting arrest.

His lawyer said he would be returned to Greenburgh to face those charges.

In January 1997, when Higinio was an 18-year-old senior at Alexander
Hamilton High School, a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol fell out of
his gym bag during a game at the Elmsford school. Police also found
two clips of ammunition in his bag.

Higinio, who was the starting point guard on the varsity basketball
team, was suspended from school and removed from the team, but he
graduated with his class after attending an alternative high school
in White Plains. He served 30 days in jail in 1997 and was put on
probation after pleading guilty to criminal possession of a weapon.