Angels employee convicted in overdose death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs

A former Los Angeles Angels employee was convicted on Thursday of providing Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs the drugs that led to his overdose death in Texas.

Eric Kay was convicted one count each of drug distribution resulting in death and drug conspiracy. He faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced on 28 June.

Skaggs’ widow, Carli, and his mother, Debbie Hetman, hugged as the verdict was announced. Kay took off his jacket and tie and was placed into handcuffs, nodding toward his family and friends in the courtroom.

The jury revealed the verdict following an eight-day trial. Kay was tried in federal court in Fort Worth, about 15 miles from where the Angels were supposed to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers on 1 July 2019, the day Skaggs was found dead in a suburban Dallas hotel room.

“We’re obviously disappointed in the verdict. We thought there were many reasons to doubt the government’s case,” said Reagan Wynn, one of Kay’s attorneys. “This is a tragedy all the way around. Eric Kay is getting ready to do minimum 20 years in a federal penitentiary and it goes up from there. And Tyler Skaggs is gone.”

A coroner’s report said Skaggs, 27, had choked to death on his vomit, and a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was in his system.

“This case is a sober reminder: Fentanyl kills. Anyone who deals fentanyl whether on the streets or out of a world-famous baseball stadium puts his or her buyers at risk. No one is immune from this deadly drug,” US Attorney Chad E Meacham said in a statement.

The trial included testimony from five major league players who said they received oxycodone pills from Kay at various times from 2017-19, the years Kay was accused of obtaining pills and giving them to players.