Former University of Alabama star wide receiver Henry Ruggs III plans to plead guilty in the fatal DUI crash that killed a 23-year-old woman in 2021, per an ESPN report.
Ruggs, who was playing for the Las Vegas Raiders at the time of the wreck, will serve three to 10 years in the Nevada state prison after initially facing up to 50 years in prison. The case now goes to the 8th Judicial District Court for a hearing on May 10. The 24-year-old is expected to formally plead guilty then.
"This is the first step toward a fair resolution to this matter and we look forward to closure for all the parties involved," David Z. Chesnoff and Richard A. Schonfeld, attorneys for Ruggs, said in a statement released after Tuesday's proceedings, via ESPN.
ESPN wrote of the incident, "Police say the 24-year-old Ruggs was drunk and reached speeds of 156 mph in Las Vegas' valley west of The Strip in the early morning hours of Nov. 2, 2021, when his Corvette Stingray hit Tina Tintor's Toyota RAV4, propelling it 571 feet and setting it on fire. Tintor, 23, and her dog Max burned to death, a coroner ruled in December 2021."
Following the fatal crash, Ruggs reportedly refused to take a field sobriety test, and a blood draw around two hours later revealed his blood-alcohol level was 0.161, which is more than twice the legal limit in Nevada.
Ruggs won a national championship with the Crimson Tide in 2017 and was only in his second season with the Raiders at the time of the crash.
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