FORT WORTH, Texas — A former Los Angeles Angels employee was convicted Thursday of supplying the drug that led to the overdose death of Texas pitcher Tyler Skaggs.
Eric Kay, 47, was convicted on two counts of distributing drugs leading to death and conspiring to commit drugs. He is liable to a prison sentence ranging from 20 years to life. His sentence is due June 28.
Skaggs’ widow, Carli, and her mother, Debbie Hetman, hugged as the verdict was announced. Kay removed his jacket and tie before handcuffing himself. He nodded to his loved ones, then was taken away.
A jury of ten women and two men returned the guilty verdict after just three hours of deliberation following an eight-day trial in Federal Court in Fort Worth.
The court where the trial took place is about 20 miles from where the Angels were scheduled to face the Texas Rangers on July 1, 2019, the day Skaggs was found dead in a hotel room in suburb of Dallas.
“We are obviously disappointed with the verdict. It was thought there were many reasons to doubt the government’s case, commented Reagan Wynn, one of Kay’s lawyers. It’s a tragedy all the way. Eric Kay is preparing to spend a minimum of 20 years in a penitentiary and possibly more. And Tyler Skaggs is dead. »
According to the coroner’s report, Skaggs, 27, choked on vomit. A toxic mixture of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was also found in his system.
“This case is a simple reminder: fentanyl kills. Anyone who sells fentanyl – whether on the street or in a famous ballpark – puts the person who buys it at risk. No one is immune to this deadly drug,” prosecutor Chad E. Meacham said in a statement.
The trial heard testimony from five former major league players who revealed they received oxycodone pills from Kay on various occasions between 2017 and 2019. This is the time period in which Kay was charged. of distributing this drug to players at Angel Stadium. Kay himself used drugs according to testimonies and documents filed in evidence.
Pitcher Matt Harvey, who was a star player with the New York Mets nearly a decade ago, said he knew he was risking his career by admitting he used cocaine in New York and in California.
Harvey, one of the players claiming to have received oxycodone from Kay, said he agreed to testify only after being granted immunity from possible prosecution. Harvey was keen to get that protection because he admitted to supplying the Skaggs himself in 2019. Currently, Harvey is out of contract after spending the last season with the Baltimore Orioles.
“The players’ testimonies have been very difficult for our organization to hear and it reminds us that too often drug use and addiction remain hidden,” Angels organization president John Carpino said in a statement.
The Skaggs family has filed wrongful death lawsuits in Texas and California against the Angels. The team maintains that it was not aware that employees were providing opioids to players or that Skaggs was consuming them.
In her closing argument, lead prosecutor Lindsey Beran told the jury that the government had proven beyond any doubt that Kay was the only one who could have supplied the drugs that led to Skaggs’ death, that the distribution had taken place in Texas and that fentanyl caused the death.
The lawsuit argued that Kay gave Skaggs counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl.