Trial of former Los Angeles Angels employee Eric Kay over role in pitcher Tyler Skaggs' death begins in Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas — Both sides in the United States vs. Eric Kay trial that began Tuesday said jurors will see a line of major league players who received opioids from Kay in the Los Angeles Angels' home clubhouse.

Kay, the team's former communications director, faces felony charges of distributing opioids and causing the opioid-related death of Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs in 2019 while on a road trip to Texas.

During the defense team's opening statement, attorney Reagan Wynn also indicated that the defense will name former All-Star pitcher Matt Harvey as a potential drug source for Skaggs. While laying out the defense's version of events, Wynn told the jury that Kay saw Skaggs snort lines of crushed pills the night he died, two blue and one pink, and asked Skaggs where the pink pill had come from.

«Tyler Skaggs told him 'those are Percocets I got from Harvey,'» Wynn said. The government did not name Harvey during its opening statement, but said a player will testify that he had previously given Skaggs pink pills but denied that he did so before the fatal road trip. Harvey is expected to testify as a government witness later this week. Harvey's agent, Scott Boras, said he was unable to comment.

No Percocet was found in Skaggs' system, but the government identified one of the drugs found in Skaggs' room as the prescription opioid.

Wynn also said that Kay, an admitted opioid addict, obtained pills on occasion from the umpires clubhouse attendant at Angel Stadium, Hector Vazquez. Vazquez could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

With Vazquez's alleged involvement and the prospect of multiple players admitting drug abuse, the case is evocative of Major League Baseball's 1985 drug scandal that saw 11 major league