Former Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III will plead guilty to a two criminal counts related to his 2021 drunken car crash that killed a Las Vegas woman.
The move ends a prospective preliminary hearing on the fatal accident that killed Tina Tintor and her dog, Max.
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The big picture: Ruggs was accused of killing Tintor and her dog in a car crash in November 2021, when he was allegedly driving drunk and reached speeds of 156 mph in Las Vegas’ valley west of The Strip.
- Tuesday, Ruggs and his legal team signaled they would waive his right to a preliminary hearing and plead guilty in consultation with Nevada prosecutors.
- The charges dropped as part of the plea deal were one count of DUI causing substantial harm regarding his passenger and two counts of reckless driving.
- As part of the plea deal, Ruggs will serve three to 10 years in the Nevada state prison.
- If convicted on all filed charges, Ruggs faced a minimum of two years and up to 50 years in prison.
- Ruggs’ next court date is May 10, 2023, when he is expected to formally plead guilty.
The backstory: Tintor and her dog were burned to death in the wake of the collision when Ruggs was driving upwards of 150 miles per hour. Ruggs’ girlfriend, who was in his car, was injured in the crash.
- Ruggs’ blood-alcohol level was 0.161 – more than twice the legal limit in Nevada – two hours after the crash.
- Ruggs was released on a $150,000 bond one day after the crash and has been on house arrest with alcohol and location electronic monitoring devices for the past year and a half.
- The Raiders released Ruggs, a first-round draft pick out of Alabama in 2020, after the crash.
