Ex-Las Vegas Raiders participant Henry Ruggs pleaded responsible Wednesday to driving his sports activities automotive drunk at speeds as much as 156mph on a metropolis road earlier than inflicting a fiery crash that killed a girl and her canine.
“Responsible,” mentioned the previous first-round NFL draft choose, 24, who will keep away from trial and is predicted to be sentenced on 9 August to 3 to 10 years in state jail beneath phrases of his plea take care of prosecutors. The minimal three-year sentence can’t be diminished by changing the 12 months and a half that he has spent on home arrest to time already served.
Ruggs and his attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, declined quick remark and left the courthouse with a gaggle of about 9 individuals following the transient court docket look.
The Raiders dropped Ruggs whereas he was nonetheless hospitalized from the predawn 2 November 2021, crash that killed 23-year-old Tina Tintor.
Tintor’s mom, brother and several other different members of the family have been within the courtroom Wednesday however departed with their legal professional, Farhan Naqvi, with out remark.
Ruggs’ girlfriend, Je’nai Kilgo-Washington, was with him within the Corvette and likewise was injured. Prosecutors mentioned Ruggs suffered a leg harm and Kilgo-Washington obtained an arm harm. Kilgo-Washington and Ruggs have a daughter collectively, and Kilgo-Washington was not cooperative with prosecutors as a sufferer within the case.
Final week, Ruggs waived a long-delayed preliminary listening to together with his settlement to plead responsible to driving drunk, inflicting loss of life, a felony, and a misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter cost carrying a six-month jail sentence that will probably be folded in together with his three-to-ten 12 months jail time period.
Prosecutor Eric Bauman informed the native choose who moved the case to state court docket final week that Clark County District Lawyer Steve Wolfson endorsed the deal. Wolfson declined quick remark following Ruggs’ plea.
Wolfson mentioned shortly after the crash that Ruggs would face a compulsory minimal of two years in jail if convicted and will get greater than 50 years. The district legal professional mentioned investigators discovered that Ruggs spent a number of hours consuming with pals at a sports activities leisure website and {golfing} venue, and will have been at a pal’s residence for a number of extra hours earlier than he and Kilgo-Washington headed residence.
Ruggs’ attorneys final week referred to as the plea settlement a “first step towards a good decision to this matter” and “closure for all events concerned.”
For the reason that crash, Ruggs’ legal professionals misplaced a number of bids to problem proof, together with that Ruggs had a blood-alcohol degree of 0.16% — twice the authorized restrict in Nevada — after the rear-end wreck that ignited a fireplace that killed Tintor, 23, and her pet canine, Max.
Police reported that air bag pc information confirmed Ruggs’ 2020 Chevrolet Corvette slowed barely from 156 mph (251 kph) to 127 mph (204 kph) seconds earlier than slamming into Tintor’s Toyota Rav 4. The velocity restrict within the space was 45 mph (72 kph).
Different expenses in opposition to Ruggs have been dismissed beneath the plea settlement, together with felony reckless driving, driving beneath the affect inflicting substantial harm to Kilgo-Washington, and a misdemeanor gun cost stemming from the invention by police of a loaded handgun in his demolished Corvette.
Ruggs posted $150,000 bail to be launched from jail after leaving the hospital, and has remained on home arrest with strict circumstances together with digital monitoring and alcohol checks. A choose’s order allowed him to attend a health club for 3 hours of bodily coaching twice every week.
Ruggs’ full identify is Henry James Ruggs III. He grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, and gained an NCAA championship with the Crimson Tide earlier than he was drafted by the Raiders in 2020. He signed a four-year rookie contract reported to be price greater than $16 million and had been rising as a star NFL participant earlier than the crash. Data present he purchased a $1.1 million residence in April 2021, not removed from the scene of the crash.
