Henry Ruggs III is expected to plead guilty in connection with a fatal DUI crash, his lawyers said Tuesday.
The former Alabama and Las Vegas Raider wide receiver, through his defense attorneys, waived his right to a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The former wide receiver will plead guilty to a felony charge of DUI resulting in death and a misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter. Ruggs did not officially enter a guilty plea on Tuesday, but defense attorney David Chesnoff said that “both pleas will take place in District Court.”
A 23-year-old woman Tina Tintor, and her dog, died in a fiery November 2021 crash in Las Vegas. Ruggs is accused of driving up to 156 mph down a residential street seconds before the fatal crash. Prosecutors have said that after the crash his blood alcohol level was 0.16%, twice the legal limit for drivers in Nevada.
The fiery crash involved two cars; a Toyota Rav4 and a Chevrolet Corvette, which Ruggs was driving, police said. Immediately after the incident Prosecutor Eric Bauman said Ruggs was traveling at 156 mph about 2 seconds before the crash. He was at 127 mph when airbags deployed.
“This is the first step toward a fair resolution to this matter and we look forward to closure for all the parties involved,” defense attorneys David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld said in a statement released following Tuesday’s hearing.
Defense attorneys and prosecutors also agreed for Ruggs to serve a sentence of 3 to 10 years in prison, although a judge will have the final say.
“This resolution is conditioned upon the court accepting the stipulations of the parties,” Chesnoff said during the hearing. “In the event that the court does not accept the stipulations, Mr. Ruggs will be permitted to withdraw his guilty plea, proceed to trial and litigate all issues.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
