Should Henry Ruggs have gotten a harsher sentence?
Backstory
As I’m sure you all remember, the former Raiders wide receiver was arrested back in November of 2021 after causing a fatal car accident while intoxicated. At around 3:40am on November 2, 2021, Ruggs crashed his Corvette into a Toyota Rav-4 while traveling at a whopping speed of 156 MPH. To make matters worse, Ruggs was heavily intoxicated as his blood-alcohol content was more than double the legal limit.
His poor choices and blatant stupidity cost 23-year-old Tina Tintor her life.
Sentencing
Though the Ruggs story has been in headlines for close to two years now, he has finally just been sentenced to prison. While reports initially stated Ruggs would face five total charges (4 felonies and one misdemeanor), he clearly got some special celebrity deal.
After initial hearings, reports suggested Ruggs would face up to 50 years in prison for drunken vehicular manslaughter. However, due to him being a rich celebrity with a phenomenal lawyer, Ruggs accepted a plea deal which forced him to plead guilty. In return, Ruggs’ charges dropped from five to just two.
Rather than facing four felony charges and a misdemeanor, Ruggs instead was merely charged with one felony count of DUI resulting in death and one misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter. Due to the deal, Ruggs’ sentence dropped from up to 50 years in prison to just 3-10 years. Basically, with good behavior, Ruggs will be eligible for parole in just three years.
Celebrity Crimes Call For Celebrity Punishments
Here is my number one question. In what world is vehicular manslaughter deemed a misdemeanor? I once got a misdemeanor for a noise complaint. You’re telling me that’s the same level of illegalness as killing someone in a car crash? Make that make sense.
However, the biggest thing to discuss about this sentence is how blatantly biased it is. If this were an average citizen, they would 100% be going to prison for 50 years. There would have been no deal, no misdemeanor, and it wouldn’t have even taken two years to figure out. This is one of the most cut-and-dried cases I’ve ever seen. Ruggs made the decision to drink and drive, speed at a rate most cars can’t even achieve, and is fully responsible for killing a human being.
Not to get too political here, but there are people in prison longer than that for weed charges. Basically, people are facing harsher punishments for something that is essentially legal at this point than Ruggs will for murder. Again, make that make sense.
Congratulations, I guess Mr. Ruggs. You have officially become the latest celebrity to scheme the justice system since Bill Cosby. What great company to be compared with. You must be so proud.
