Former NFL wideout Henry Ruggs III was sentenced to 10 years in prison with parole eligibility after three years on August 9. The sentence came in relation to a 2020 car crash in which Ruggs III struck the vehicle of Tina Tintor at 156mph. Ruggs III and his girlfriend suffered minor injuries. However, Tintor and her dog were killed after her vehicle caught fire as a result of the crash. The 3-10 sentence came despite the sentencing judge calling it "one of the more tragic cases" they had presided over. It is believed the sentence was part of a plea arrangement.
However, one particularly famous voice has spoken up in protest of the sentence - O.J. Simpson. In 2008, in the same courthouse as Ruggs III, Simpson received a 33-year prison sentence for armed robbery. The former NFL star was granted parole eligibility after nine years served. Simpson had been arrested after executing an armed heist to steal pieces of his own memorabilia from a casino in Las Vegas. Simpson was arrested three days after the robbery. While Simpson was indeed paroled after nine years, he has taken issue with Ruggs III's sentence.
Simpson Says "The Math Doesn't Add Up"
Addressing his followers on X, Simpson lamented that the "math doesn't add up" in Ruggs' sentence. "I know I went to college on a football scholarship but somehow this math is not adding up to me. You're driving a car at roughly 160 miles per hour on a public street and end up killing a girl and her dog and you get three to ten years?" Simpson began. "You go to a hotel room that you're invited to retrieve your own personal stolen property, property I now have because it was ruled to be mine by the state of California, and you get nine to 33 years?"
Of course, there are differences between the Simpson and Ruggs cases. Ruggs pled guilty to his charges while Simpson was found guilty after a jury trial. Furthermore, justified or not, Simpson had the specter of his 1995 murder trial hanging over him. Many believe that Simpson's sentence was so massive as it carried an unspoken punishment for the murders that Simpson was acquitted for 13 years prior.
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