LETTER: Members of Henry Ruggs defense team just doing their jobs

After ridiculing a defense strategy posited by Henry Ruggs’ defense lawyer, Tim Paten concludes in his Nov. 14 letter to the editor that “lawyers are the lowest form of human excrement on this planet”. Apparently, Mr. Paten has forgotten that “lawyers” from the Clark County district attorney’s office are prosecuting Mr. Ruggs. I doubt they would appreciate Mr. Paten’s vulgar description of their profession.

Further, Mr. Paten apparently does not know that Nevada Revised Statutes, coupled with the prosecutor’s burden of proof, require that the DA prove that Ruggs’ conduct “proximately caused the death” of Tina Tintor. “Proximate cause” is an important legal principle that is discussed extensively in legal cases.

When the evidence permits, any competent defense attorney would be expected to argue that Mr. Ruggs’ behavior, although abhorrent, was not the proximate cause of Ms. Tintor’s death. Such argument could conceivably include evidence that the actions of the fire department or some other factor was a contributing or superseding cause of the death.