A decide on Wednesday sentenced Henry Ruggs III, a former large receiver for the Raiders, to at least three years in jail for his position in a crash that killed a lady in Las Vegas in 2021.
Ruggs pleaded responsible in May 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, Judge Jennifer Schwartz sentenced Ruggs to up to 10 years in jail, with the flexibility for Ruggs to be paroled after three years, holding in keeping with the contours of a plea settlement.
The authorities mentioned Ruggs, now 24, a first-round decide 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 degree 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 May in Nevada’s Eighth Judicial District Court to one rely of driving below the affect leading to loss of life, a felony, and one rely of vehicular manslaughter, a misdemeanor. Prosecutors dropped three authentic felony costs — 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 court docket in a darkish swimsuit and tie flanked by his protection attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld. Ruggs learn a ready assertion and mentioned that his actions are “not a true reflection of me.”
“Over the past 21 months, I’ve searched for a way to find the answers for my selfish behavior on that day,” Ruggs mentioned earlier than members of Tintor’s household current within the courtroom. “I have no excuse and pray that accepting responsibility with my guilty plea can allow me to begin the healing process and allow everyone involved to heal also.”
Before levying the sentence, Schwartz referred to as the case “one of the most tragic” she had seen. And Mirjana Komazec, Tintor’s mom, ready an announcement learn by a consultant for the household that mentioned: “Every parent’s worst nightmare is to create a beautiful child just to have them taken away at the hands of another’s negligence.”
Ruggs may have confronted greater than 50 years in jail had he been convicted of the unique costs.
The plea deal resolved practically two years of authorized jostling between prosecutors and Ruggs’s protection group, which had raised questions on how the police gathered proof that Ruggs had been ingesting.
Ruggs didn’t admit to ingesting 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 ready to get the warrant. And in May, Steven Wolfson, the Clark County district legal professional, acknowledged that it was not clear that the blood samples would find a way to be used at trial, which led to the provide of the plea settlement.
“There was a legitimate concern that a court would have suppressed the result of the blood draw,” Wolfson mentioned in an announcement. “We would have lost the felony D.U.I. charge. We couldn’t take that chance.”
Eve Hanan, an affiliate dean at the legislation college at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, mentioned in an interview that the police lacked visible or verbal proof to conclude that Ruggs was drunk.
(*3*) Hanan mentioned. “I think that under federal constitutional standards, not just Nevada standards, that they did not have enough to stick a needle in someone’s arm, and the only evidence they had for drinking is the blood.”
The Tintor household mentioned in an announcement in May that they wished to put the case to relaxation.
“No sentence will ever bring Tina and Max back, but we hope that everyone learns from this preventable incident so that no other families suffer like we do,” the household mentioned in an announcement via a lawyer. “We appreciate the efforts of the district attorney’s office to overcome the issues caused by the initial investigation.”
Since the 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 mentioned he had accepted the decision and can “return to making positive contributions to his community” upon his launch from jail.
His arrest was one in a string of prison incidents involving N.F.L. gamers over the previous two years.
The N.F.L. final week suspended the New Orleans Saints operating again Alvin Kamara for three video games for his position within the beating of a person outdoors a Las Vegas nightclub on Feb. 5, 2022, the day earlier than the Pro Bowl, the N.F.L.’s annual all-star sport. 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 neighborhood service, pay a $500 high-quality and pay greater than $100,000 in medical bills to the sufferer, Darnell Greene.
Discussion about this post