Former Raiders player Henry Ruggs is expected to plead guilty in connection with a DUI crash that left a 23-year-old woman dead in Las Vegas, his lawyers said Tuesday.
Ruggs defense attorneys waived his right to a preliminary hearing and said 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 his lawyer David Chesnoff said that “both pleas will take place in District Court.”
“This is the first step toward a fair resolution to this matter and we look forward to closure for all the parties involved,” Chesnoff and defense attorney Richard Schonfeld said in a statement released following Tuesday’s hearing.
Ruggs’ lawyers and prosecutors also agreed for Ruggs to serve a sentence of three to 10 years in prison, although a judge will have the final say on the sentence.
“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.”
The vehicular manslaughter charge carries a sentence of six months in the Clark County Detention Center. But defense attorneys and prosecutors stipulated that Ruggs would serve the sentence for the misdemeanor count at the same time as the felony sentence, meaning he is expected to only spend time in prison.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Eric Bauman said Tuesday that being convicted of a vehicular manslaughter charge “requires a traffic infraction of negligence that results in the death of another person.”
Ruggs initially faced charges of DUI resulting in death, DUI resulting in substantial bodily harm, two counts of reckless driving resulting in death or substantial bodily harm, and possession of a firearm while under the influence in connection with the fiery November 2021 crash that killed Tina Tintor and her dog.
The Naqvi Injury Law Firm, which has previously represented Tintor’s family, did not immediately respond to request for comment on Tuesday.
Ruggs is accused of driving his Chevrolet Corvette Stingray up to 156 mph down a residential street seconds before slamming into the back of Tintor’s 2013 Toyota RAV4.
Tintor’s car burst into flames, trapping her inside. Prosecutors have said that after the crash, Ruggs’ blood alcohol level was 0.16 percent, twice the legal limit for drivers in Nevada.
According to a police report, Ruggs’ girlfriend, Kiara Je’nai Kilgo-Washington, told police she and Ruggs were at Top Golf before the crash, where she ordered two drinks for herself “but did not know how many, if any drinks, Ruggs had consumed.”
Two of the charges Ruggs faced related to injuries his girlfriend allegedly sustained during the crash. Defense attorneys have previously argued for Washington’s medical records to be excluded from evidence, along with the results of Ruggs’ blood test alcohol test.
Numerous legal challenges in the case have delayed the preliminary hearing over the past year and a half. The hearing, when a judge listens to testimony and determines if there is enough evidence for a defendant to stand trial, was scheduled for Thursday.
The case has bounced between judges in the Las Vegas Justice Court in recent months. The shuffling began when Chesnoff and Schonfeld argued that Ruggs was “singled out” when Justice of the Peace Ann Zimmerman moved to continue overseeing the DUI case in January, even though Justice of the Peace Joe Bonaventure had taken over a DUI specialty court during routine judicial reassignments.
Bonaventure recused himself after saying he made about the case while running for re-election last year, a move that was fought by defense attorneys, but the case landed in Justice of the Peace Harmony Letizia’s court for Tuesday’s hearing.
Ruggs is scheduled to appear in front of District Judge Jennifer Schwartz on May 10. He was not taken into custody on Tuesday, and remains under house arrest.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at [email protected] or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.
