A choose on Wednesday sentenced Henry Ruggs III, a former broad receiver for the Raiders, to a minimum of three years in jail for his position in a crash that killed a lady in Las Vegas in 2021.
Ruggs pleaded responsible in Might to a felony drunken-driving cost for crashing his sports activities automobile into the game utility car of Tina Tintor, 23, on Nov. 2, 2021. On Wednesday, Choose Jennifer Schwartz sentenced Ruggs to as much as 10 years in jail, with the power for Ruggs to be paroled after three years, preserving in keeping with the contours of a plea settlement.
The authorities stated Ruggs, now 24, a first-round choose within the 2020 N.F.L. draft, was driving his Corvette at speeds as quick as 156 miles per hour at 3:40 a.m. when he slammed into Tintor’s S.U.V., which burst into flames, killing Tintor and her canine, Max.
Ruggs’s blood-alcohol stage was reported as 0.16, or twice Nevada’s authorized restrict, and his girlfriend, Kiara Kilgo-Washington, was additionally injured. The Raiders launched Ruggs from their roster hours after the crash.
As a part of his settlement, Ruggs pleaded responsible in Might in Nevada’s Eighth Judicial District Court docket to 1 rely of driving below the affect leading to demise, a felony, and one rely of vehicular manslaughter, a misdemeanor. Prosecutors dropped three authentic felony prices — two counts of reckless driving and driving below the affect leading to bodily hurt — and a misdemeanor cost of possessing a gun whereas below the affect of medication or alcohol.
Ruggs appeared in courtroom in a darkish swimsuit and tie flanked by his protection attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld. Ruggs learn a ready assertion and stated that his actions are “not a real reflection of me.”
“Over the previous 21 months, I’ve looked for a strategy to discover the solutions for my egocentric conduct on that day,” Ruggs stated earlier than members of Tintor’s household current within the courtroom. “I’ve no excuse and pray that accepting accountability with my responsible plea can enable me to start the therapeutic course of and permit everybody concerned to heal additionally.”
Earlier than levying the sentence, Schwartz referred to as the case “one of the vital tragic” she had seen. And Mirjana Komazec, Tintor’s mom, ready an announcement learn by a consultant for the household that stated: “Each dad or mum’s worst nightmare is to create a phenomenal youngster simply to have them taken away by the hands of one other’s negligence.”
Ruggs may have confronted greater than 50 years in jail had he been convicted of the unique prices.
The plea deal resolved practically two years of authorized jostling between prosecutors and Ruggs’s protection workforce, which had raised questions on how the police gathered proof that Ruggs had been consuming.
Ruggs didn’t admit to consuming when he was interviewed by authorities after the crash, however the police acquired a warrant to take blood-alcohol checks when Ruggs went to a hospital. His attorneys argued that the police mustn’t have been capable of get the warrant. And in Might, Steven Wolfson, the Clark County district lawyer, acknowledged that it was not clear that the blood samples would have the ability to be used at trial, which led to the supply of the plea settlement.
“There was a respectable concern {that a} courtroom would have suppressed the results of the blood draw,” Wolfson stated in an announcement. “We’d have misplaced the felony D.U.I. cost. We couldn’t take that likelihood.”
Eve Hanan, an affiliate dean on the legislation college on the College of Nevada, Las Vegas, stated in an interview that the police lacked visible or verbal proof to conclude that Ruggs was drunk.
“Inflicting a demise is critical, however the query is, Was he simply driving actually quick and recklessly, or was he driving drunk? And I don’t suppose they’ve it,” Hanan stated. “I believe that below federal constitutional requirements, not simply Nevada requirements, that they didn’t have sufficient to stay a needle in somebody’s arm, and the one proof that they had for consuming is the blood.”
The Tintor household stated in an announcement in Might that they wished to place the case to relaxation.
“No sentence will ever carry Tina and Max again, however we hope that everybody learns from this preventable incident in order that no different households endure like we do,” the household stated in an announcement by a lawyer. “We admire the efforts of the district lawyer’s workplace to beat the problems attributable to the preliminary investigation.”
For the reason that crash, Ruggs had been on home arrest with strict circumstances after posting bail of $150,000. He was in his second season and had began all seven video games for the Raiders in 2021 earlier than the crash. In an announcement after the sentencing, Ruggs’s attorneys stated he had accepted the decision and can “return to creating constructive contributions to his group” upon his launch from jail.
His arrest was one in a string of legal incidents involving N.F.L. gamers over the previous two years.
The N.F.L. final week suspended the New Orleans Saints working again Alvin Kamara for 3 video games for his position within the beating of a person exterior a Las Vegas nightclub on Feb. 5, 2022, the day earlier than the Professional Bowl, the N.F.L.’s annual all-star recreation. Kamara pleaded no contest in July to an amended misdemeanor cost of breach of peace, avoiding jail time by reaching a plea settlement. Kamara should full 30 hours of group service, pay a $500 tremendous and pay greater than $100,000 in medical bills to the sufferer, Darnell Greene.
