Former Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs has pleaded guilty to DUI resulting in death and will spend time in prison.
Ruggs officially entered the plea today and acknowledged to a judge that he was responsible for the death of Tina Tintor on November 2, 2021. Ruggs’ attorneys and prosecutors agreed to a sentence of three to 10 years in prison. The judge will sentence Ruggs on August 9 and he is under house arrest until then.
District Attorney Steven B. Wolfson acknowledged that as little as three years in prison for killing Tintor may seem like Ruggs is getting off easy, but said that if his office had proceeded to trial, there was a chance that the case could have fallen apart, as Ruggs’ attorneys were challenging whether prosecutors could introduce the evidence that Ruggs’ blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit.
“I recognize this outcome is not sufficient to punish Ruggs for the loss the Tintor family has suffered,” Wolfson’s statement said, “but there was a legitimate concern that a court would have suppressed the result of the blood draw. We would have lost the felony DUI charge. We couldn’t take that chance. This resolution sends Ruggs to prison for up to 10 years on a felony DUI conviction and brings closure to the Tintor family.”
Ruggs, the 12th overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft, was cut by the Raiders after the crash.