Henry Ruggs III was denied parole on Thursday after being sentenced to three to 10 years in prison in August 2023. The former Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver pleaded guilty to one count of driving under the influence resulting in death and one count of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter.
Former NFL Star Sympathizes With Henry Ruggs’ Parole Verdict
During Friday’s segment of the “Speakeasy” show, former NFL wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh addressed the issue of Ruggs being denied parole after serving nearly three years of his sentence.
“I hope he’s given a second chance, which I believe he will be,” Houshmandzadeh said. “We gotta always remember that a woman lost her life, and he just made a bad decision. And you gotta pay for these bad decisions when you do these types of things.”
“I’m sure he was very hopeful,” Houshmandzadeh said about Ruggs thinking about getting parole this week. “But if I’m her family, I’m like, ‘Really? Three years? You’re gonna let him out in three years?’ And so, for both sides of it, there’s no right answer.”
“He’s still living; she lost her life,” Houshmandzadeh added. “Every day is a blessing when we wake up, and we hear, and we always take it for granted. She doesn’t have that liberty anymore, and so you have to really put yourselves in her family’s position.”
Ruggs could appear before the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners in May 2027 and will next be eligible for parole on August 24, 2027.
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During Ruggs’ hearing, prosecutors revealed that the then-Las Vegas wideout was driving his Chevrolet Corvette Stingray at 156 mph while having a blood alcohol level double Nevada’s legal limit.
His speeding car careened into the back of Tina Tintor’s Toyota RAV4, causing it to crash 571 feet away before combusting and causing the victim and her dog’s deaths from thermal injuries.
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During Ruggs’ parole hearing in May, his attorney, David Chesnoff, asked the board to ignore their client’s celebrity in its decision-making.
“Sometimes being high-profile makes it more of a burden,” Chesnoff said. “And I would most respectfully ask everybody to treat Henry the way they would anybody that comes before them, except for the fact that I think he’s tried to do as much as humanly possible to send a message that his behavior was unacceptable.”
The wide receiver was a key cog in the Alabama Crimson Tide team that won the 2017 national championship, and he forged a reputation as one of the most explosive wide receivers in college football.
After an impressive NFL Combine, Ruggs was selected No. 12 overall by the Las Vegas Raiders during the 2020 NFL Draft. He played one full and one interrupted season for the Raiders, tallying 1,197 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns before being released on the day of the accident.
