Former Los Angeles Angels Employee Convicted in Tyler Skaggs' Overdose Death
A former employee of the Los Angels Angles have been found guilty Thursday in connecting with the 2019 drug-related death of Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs, according to CBS Sports. Eric Kay, the former Angels communications director, was convicted of distributing counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl and conspiracy to process with intent in connecting to the death of Skaggs. According to ESPN, the jury in Fort Worth, Texas needed just three hours to arrive at its verdict. Kay faces a minimum of 20 years in prison.
"We are very grateful to the government and the jury for seeing this important case through to the right verdict," the Skaggs family said in a statement. "Tyler was the light of our family. He is gone, and nothing can ever bring him back. We are relieved that justice was served, although today is a painful reminder of the worst day in the life of our family."
"We're obviously disappointed in the verdict. We thought there were many reasons to doubt the government's case,'' Reagan Wynn, one of Kay's attorneys, said after the verdict was announced. "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.''
The Skaggs family filed a lawsuit against the Angels last June. His parents filed a lawsuit in Texas while his widow, Cari, filed a lawsuit in California. "The trial showed Eric Kay's drug trafficking was known to numerous people in the Angels organization, and it resulted in the tragic and unnecessary death of one of their most popular players," Rusty Hardin, the attorney representing the Skaggs family in the lawsuits, said in a statement following Thursday's verdicts. "We have no doubt that the Angels knew what Eric Kay was doing, and the team is morally and legally responsible for his conduct. In the upcoming civil cases, we are looking forward to holding the team accountable. While this verdict is the beginning of seeing justice served, it is a painful reminder of a very sad day in the life of Tyler's family."
Skaggs was found dead in his hotel room in Southlake, Texas on July 1, 2019, before the Angels were set to face the Texas Rangers. After Skaggs' death, an autopsy was performed which determined there were traces of fentanyl, oxycodone, and alcohol in his system. The official cause of death was listed as "alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone intoxication with terminal aspiration of gastric contents," which means that Skaggs choked on his own vomit due to intoxication. He was 27 years old.