Henry Ruggs is awaiting a Nevada Board of Parole decision expected by June 14 that could make him eligible for release from prison on Aug. 5, nearly three years after a high-speed, alcohol-related crash that killed Tina Tintor and her dog.
Ruggs was sentenced in August 2023 to three to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty in May 2023 to one count of DUI resulting in death and one misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter. He became eligible for parole after serving three years under that sentence.
At a parole hearing last month, Ruggs told the board he thinks about Tintor’s death every day and asked for “the privilege of parole so I can prove myself to everyone.” He also said, “I’m a religious person and pray for her family daily.” Tintor’s family did not speak publicly during or after the hearing; they were allowed to meet with the board privately.
The facts of the crash are among the clearest evidence in the case: in November 2021 Ruggs was driving as fast as 156 mph with a blood-alcohol level of 0.161—more than twice the legal limit—when his Corvette hit the car carrying 23-year-old Tina Tintor and her dog, killing both. Ruggs was charged and released by the Raiders hours after the crash; he had 24 catches for 469 yards and two touchdowns in seven games in 2021.
Ruggs’s legal record is straightforward: a guilty plea in May 2023, sentencing three months later in August 2023 to a three-to-10-year term, and parole eligibility after three years. The Nevada Board of Parole now has a clear calendar hinge—its ruling due by June 14 will determine whether the earliest practical release date of Aug. 5 is viable.
But the case contains a sharp contradiction for the parole board to weigh. In December 2025 Ruggs was moved from a minimum-security facility in Las Vegas to a medium-security prison in Northern Nevada. The Nevada Department of Corrections said it could not specify why he was transferred and noted that offenders who commit infractions can be moved to higher custody levels. That administrative change sits against Ruggs’s public statements of daily remorse and religious prayer for Tintor’s family.
Family grief has been present throughout the court process. At Ruggs’s sentencing in August 2023, Tintor’s mother, Mirjana Komazec, had a statement read by Tintor’s cousin, Daniel Strbac. Komazec said, “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.”
The parole board’s decision will hinge on whether it accepts Ruggs’s expressions of remorse and his behavior in custody in light of the December transfer. If the board approves parole, the statutory mechanics allow a release as soon as Aug. 5; if it denies parole, Ruggs will remain under his three-to-10-year sentence and could face future review under the board’s schedule.
The most consequential unanswered question now is whether the board will reconcile the transfer to higher security with Ruggs’s petition for early release—essentially, whether institutional conduct will outweigh the remorse and pledges he offered at his hearing. That judgment, not a calendar, will decide whether Ruggs walks free this August.
