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Former Raiders receiver Henry Ruggs III will return to court on Monday after missing an alcohol test.
Via the Associated Press, a judge in Las Vegas ordered Ruggs to appear on Monday. His lawyers told Justice of the Peace Suzan Baucum that Ruggs “self-tested” negative shortly after missing a phone calls for a court-ordered breath test over the weekend. Attorney David Chesnoff blamed the delay on issues with the equipment.
Court records, per the report, indicate that Ruggs missed a test at 4:41 p.m. local time on Saturday, and that he completed a “client initiated” breath test at 6:28 p.m.
It’s the latest skirmish in a legal fight arising from Ruggs’s Corvette slamming into a vehicle carrying 23-year-old Tina Tintor, who died in a fire along with her dog. If Ruggs fails to comply with the terms of his home confinement, which prohibits him from drinking alcohol of any kind, his bail could be rescinded pending trial.
During a Wednesday hearing, Baucum also denied a request for fire department records. Ruggs’s lawyers are exploring an argument that delayed response caused or contributed to Tina Tintor’s death. They claim that a witness will testify that firefighters were slow to extinguish the flames.
A spokesman for Clark County told the AP that there were no delays of any kind. Baucum indicated that the issue may be revisited, if the lawyers can’t otherwise get the materials.
Also, Ruggs’s lawyers are trying to keep prosecutors from getting his medical records. Lawyers representing Ruggs’s girlfriend, Kiara Je’nai Kilgo-Washington, are also fighting to keep her records from prosecutors. A hearing on that issue has been set for December 8.
Ruggs, who allegedly was driving 156 mph just before impact and who allegedly had a blood-alcohol concentration of more than 0.16, faces up to 46 years in prison. His lawyers have the right to put the prosecution through all paces, forcing them to prove beyond a reasonable doubt all key elements of the crimes with which he is charged.
