Former Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs was denied parole by the Nevada Board of Parole, a spokesperson for the parole board told The Athletic, three years into his sentence for being the driver in a drunken, high-speed crash in 2021 that killed 23-year-old Tina Tintor and her dog.
Ruggs, 27, was seeking his release on the earliest eligible date, Aug. 5. He has a right to appeal the decision. Unless he appeals and is granted parole, he will become eligible again in roughly a year, the spokesperson said.
The board’s order denying parole showed that Riggs has had two disciplinary conduct offenses while in custody.
The document also listed two reasons for denying Ruggs parole: removal from community supervision program, and impact on victim(s) and/or community. And in its specific recommendations, the board urged Ruggs to not engage in disciplinary misconduct during the denial period and to participate in victim empathy programming.
Ruggs’ attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, released a statement following the board’s ruling expressing disappointment.
“Mr. Ruggs, and our office, continue to feel the grief and loss suffered by Ms. Tintor’s family,” the statement read. “However, we are disappointed by the Parole Board’s decision to deny parole despite overwhelming evidence of Mr. Ruggs having accepted responsibility for his conduct, having engaged in community outreach efforts related to DUI prevention, and having completed significant educational programs while in custody.”
In August 2023, Ruggs was sentenced to three to 10 years after pleading guilty to one count of DUI resulting in death and one misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter. The charges stemmed from a November 2021 crash in Las Vegas in which Ruggs was driving as fast as 156 mph with a blood alcohol level of 0.161, more than twice the legal limit, moments before his Corvette struck a car carrying Tintor and her dog.
At a parole hearing last month, Ruggs told the board he thinks about Tintor’s death every day and asked the board to give him “the privilege of parole so I can prove myself to everyone.”
“I’m a religious person and pray for her family daily,” he said.
Tintor’s family did not speak publicly during or after that parole hearing but had the opportunity to speak with the board privately, according to The Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The family has not commented publicly since a statement from Tintor’s mother, Mirjana Komazec, was read by Tintor’s cousin Daniel Strbac at Ruggs’ sentencing. The statement read: “Every parent’s worst nightmare is to create a beautiful child just to have them taken away at the hands of another’s negligence. There are very few words to explain the feelings of losing a child. It is a pain we feel every day.”
Ruggs has been incarcerated at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City, a medium-security facility, since being moved there in December from a low-security facility in Las Vegas. The Nevada Department of Corrections did not specify why Ruggs was moved but said that offenders who commit infractions can be moved to higher levels of custody.
A first-round pick by the Raiders in 2020, Ruggs said last year that he hoped to return to the NFL once he was released from prison. He had 24 catches for 469 yards and two touchdowns in seven games in 2021 before the Raiders released him hours after he was charged in the death of Tintor.