(Photo illustration by Shoshana Gordon/ProPublica. Source images: courtesy of Jorge Ruiz, obtained by ProPublica. )
Reporting Highlights
- Serious Charge: Drivers are rarely charged with murder in fatal car crashes unless they have aggravating factors — such as past DUIs or excessive speed.
- Uncommon Plea Deal: Unlike most people facing these charges in Alabama’s 19th Circuit Court, this defendant was not offered a plea deal for a lesser charge.
- Unusual Suspect: Years after the crash, attorneys involved in the case would attempt to shed light on why it went so differently than similar cases — and what they believe was bias.
These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.
When 19-year-old Jorge Ruiz walked into the Autauga County Jail in handcuffs on Oct. 28, 2018, he wasn’t a typical suspect. He was out of place and in big trouble in a deeply conservative part of Alabama.
That morning, he’d been driving about 70 miles per hour in a 55 zone when he crossed the center line of a two-lane rural highway. His Ford pickup collided head-on with a Honda Civic, killing the woman behind the wheel. Paramedics took Ruiz to the hospital, where a blood test found a trace amount of alcohol. At just 0.016, it was below the legal threshold for intoxication…