Man, really sorry to hear that. What a horrible disease, honestly even more for the family than the afflicted. My granny's 93 with increasing dementia, and yeah.
What's sickening is that the family is sueing for money over how he got this stuff. Regardless, this is a adult man that made this decision to shoot himself up and aware of the consequences. They should be sued for violation of contract. I wish people would take responsibility for their own actions and not blame other people. Addiction is a disease but so is blaming others for decisions you've made. This is just greed at its worse.
No they're not. The investigation now, which is being run by the local police where he died, is focused on *where* he got the drugs. The Angels and MLB and the family are all cooperating and letting things take their course. They hired an attorney in case his employer was involved. Why don't we wait before we judge?
Having a dealer in the clubhouse would make the opioid use more necrotic for a team, but I suspect more teams are dealing with it than the public will ever know.
Lest we forget, the Angels killed one of their own players and it was swept it under the rug. BREAKING: Former Angels employee Eric Kay has been charged by federal authorities in Texas with distributing fentanyl in connection with the death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs, according to court documents reviewed by the @latimes. From the affidavit in support of the complaint against Eric Kay: "It was later determined that but for the fentanyl in [Skaggs'] system, [Skaggs] would not have died." From court documents, the text messages between Tyler Skaggs and Eric Kay the night of the overdose. Key paragraph in court documents regarding Eric Kay and Tyler Skaggs: Kay allegedly distributed pills to Skaggs and others "in their place of employment and while they were working. https://www.latimes.com/sports/ange...icted-distributing-fentanyl-tyler-skaggs-case A toxicology report by the Tarrant County medical examiner found the opioids fentanyl and oxycodone in his system. The medical examiner listed the cause of death as “alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone intoxication with terminal aspiration of gastric contents,” meaning he choked on his vomit. “It was later determined that but for the fentanyl in [Skaggs’] system, [Skaggs] would not have died,” an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint against Kay said. Kay, who worked in the Angels’ media relations department for 24 years before departing after Skaggs’ death, said in October he was cooperating with the investigation of Skaggs’ death. In a statement at the time issued through his attorney, Kay said cooperating was “the right thing to do” and “it’s time for everybody to stand up and take responsibility for their respective roles” in the death. ESPN reported last year that Kay told federal agents he supplied Skaggs with opioids and he abused drugs with the pitcher for several years. The attorney for Kay previously described Skaggs as “an addict who overdosed.” “I just know that attempts to blame any one person for another person’s addiction are extremely naive,” attorney Michael Molfetta of Newport Beach said last fall. “I think any attempts to blame Eric Kay for what happened are shortsighted and misguided. When all the facts come out, I think that what happened is a tragedy. What happened is very sad on many levels. But to say it’s any one person’s fault is not right.” The Angels released a statement Friday: “It has been more than a year since the tragic passing of Tyler Skaggs, and all of us affected by this loss continue to grieve. The circumstances surrounding his death are a tragedy that has impacted countless individuals and families. “The Angels Organization has fully cooperated with Law Enforcement and Major League Baseball. Additionally, in order to comprehensively understand the circumstances that led to his death, we hired a former federal prosecutor to conduct an independent investigation. “We learned that there was unacceptable behavior inconsistent with our code of conduct, and we took steps to address it. Our investigation also confirmed that no one in management was aware, or informed, of any employee providing opioids to any player, nor that Tyler was using opioids. “As we try to heal from the loss of Tyler, we continue to work with authorities as they complete their investigation.”
I will never ever understand why or how this death and the suspicious circumstances surrounding it got 1% of the attention, vitriol, and backlash then the sign stealing story. Media still doesn't give a crap, a man has freaking died.
And still, since this post neither Passan or Olney have put out even ONE tweet or post about Skaggs. They were posting 10 times a day for months about the Astros, a media storm and hit job on one franchise. The media truly is the enemy of the people.
The focus by first responders and physicians led to overprescription of pain killers at the turn of the century, which in hindsight was a mistake. Not necessary for 'something to take its place'...
Remember when the Angels killed a player? But at least they weren’t banging trash cans. That would be really bad! The criminal trial of former Angels employee Eric Kay is set to begin Nov. 8 in Fort Worth, Texas. Kay, who served as the Angels’ communications director, is charged in the death of Tyler Skaggs after allegedly supplying the drugs that killed the 27-year-old pitcher. Skaggs died July 1, 2019 in his Tarrant County, Texas hotel room before the Angels were set to begin a series with the Rangers from what was determined to be “mixed ethanol, fentanyl and oxycodone intoxication” resulting in his choking on vomit, according to a medical examiner’s report. Skaggs’ widow and parents filed separate civil lawsuits against Kay, former Angels VP of communications Tim Mead, and the Angels organization in late June. The Angels subsequently said the suits “are entirely without merit and the allegations are baseless and irresponsible” — public comments that have now come up as part of motions from the prosecution in the criminal case. Kay faces 20 years to life in prison for his alleged crimes. And now, the prosecution and Kay’s defense lawyer are going back and forth about information the prosecution is entitled to have. Here’s a breakdown on where things stand based on court filings obtained by The Athletic and what legal experts are saying about the most recent developments. What the prosecution is saying The prosecution alleges Kay obtained and distributed oxycodone to Angels players beginning in 2017, at the latest. He also used the pills himself, according to court filings. The pills that Skaggs took were “counterfeit” and laced with fentanyl, the prosecution says. One of Kay’s primary sources for obtaining the pills was allegedly a website marketplace called OfferUp, where he sought and purchased oxycodone pills. Kay allegedly associated his Angels email address with the account on this website, where he communicated with at least nine people to purchase controlled substances. In the exchanges — some of which are included in the filings — Kay asked to meet sellers at Angel Stadium, and offered Angels memorabilia to those he hoped to meet. In one instance, he offered a signed ball by Mike Trout. He also expressed concern for counterfeit drugs during some exchanges, which the prosecution argued was relevant in prosecuting the charge. The government’s case will include witness testimony from approximately five other MLB players — though the filing does not detail who those players are, or if they are or were with the Angels. Some players allegedly received up to 20 pills from Kay. The prosecution said it also has evidence of residue of oxycodone pills from Kay’s work desk during a December 2019 search. The prosecution intends to cite Kay’s past drug use and 2019 rehabilitation during trial, as well. After requesting the court to rule on the admissibility of this evidence on Aug. 20, the prosecution filed another motion Aug. 23, stating that the Angels mis-framed its subpoena seeking “all information in the Angels’ possession about illegal drug-dealing in their organization,” and not just information about the team’s internal investigation into Skaggs’ death. As a result, the government said the Angels have refused to comply with the subpoena. The prosecution says the Angels claimed that all responsive documents were subject to attorney-client privilege. The Angels did eventually provide “skeletal” responsive documents. The prosecution argued that the team waived attorney-client privilege in discussing the investigation with third parties. The prosecution has asked the court to compel the Angels to comply. The defense and the Angels’ response The defense has yet to make any responsive arguments to the allegations laid out in the motion listing the government’s evidence. The Angels, though, had a swift reply to the allegations from the prosecution in a response filed with the court on Aug. 24. “Angels Baseball has made every effort to cooperate with the government’s investigation,” the team argued, saying it produced thousands of pages of documents, including volunteering documents that it thought the government would find relevant. Ariel Neuman, an attorney representing the Angels, told The Athletic, “We strongly disagree with the government’s filing and will address this matter in court.” The team also said it plans to file an opposition next week detailing why it believes the responsive documents are privileged. The team’s response did acknowledge that it declined to provide documents that it felt fell under attorney-client privilege and work product protections — specifically the internal investigation into Skaggs’ death. The internal investigation showed that team officials weren’t aware of Kay’s alleged behavior. The prosecution asked for the court to order compliance by Aug. 30, and the Angels are asking the court to have until Aug. 31 to file an opposition. The judge eventually ruled that the Angels have until Sept. 7 to respond, according to the Los Angeles Times. “It is undisputed that Angels Baseball conducted an internal investigation and that its communications with its attorneys, and those attorneys’ work product, are protected from disclosure,” the Angels argued in the filing. What legal experts say The Athletic spoke with Mindy Sauter, who currently works as a criminal defense attorney. She has previously been a federal prosecutor, and worked in the same North Texas District Court that is prosecuting Kay. She said she believes the Angels have not complied with the subpoena, and that the judge will likely rule in the government’s favor. “The subpoena, the way it’s written, is incredibly broad,” Sauter said. “And it talks about any and all documents, records, reports that concern the specific topic of any distribution of drugs to any Angels employees or contractors. It really isn’t asking specific questions about an internal investigation. So their response and their lack of production of documents, I think is going to be problematic for them.” Sauter said she found it interesting that the Angels didn’t start an internal investigation until months after Skaggs’ death in December 2019. She speculated that there had to have been communications within the Angels about Skaggs’ death and possible drug distribution. “I can’t imagine there weren’t communications,” she said. “And those are the communications the government is saying, ‘Hey, those aren’t covered by attorney-client privilege, mainly because you guys had not even engaged a law firm.'” She also specifically noted that the communications that would have been looked at during the internal investigation do not automatically become retroactively privileged because they were entered into the investigation. Similarly, the Angels’ assertion that they can’t turn over internal investigation materials due to work-product privilege also doesn’t hold up, according to Sauter. If they were documents written by the investigators, sure. But not documents and communications reviewed by them as part of the investigation. Steven Goode, chair in trial and appellate advocacy at the University of Texas at Austin, said in an email to The Athletic, though, that “it seems undisputed that many of the documents covered by the subpoena (the Angels say all; the government says not all) would ordinarily be covered by the attorney-client privilege or work-product doctrine.” At the very least, he said, the Angels have the right to claim documents are privileged and have the courts decide. The government argued in its motion that the Angels publicly made a statement about the internal investigation, and because they handed over skeletal documents to the government, as a result, the privilege has already been waived. Goode said he believed that this was a “reasonable argument” by the prosecution, and that it’s possible the Angels might have waived privilege to some, but not all of the documents. “I don’t know that they’ll even ever have to get to that argument,” Sauter said. “I think the judge is going to find that there is no work-product with the emails, and that the emails that exist or any kind of communications that existed within the organization are responsive to the subpoena and are not within the attorney-client privilege.” The Angels are not on trial in this case, and it’s unclear what communications that would be given to the government would actually say. Sauter said she didn’t want to speculate too much on the actual evidence that the prosecution asked the court to rule admissible. “Anytime the government writes something like (an evidence motion) in my experience — and back when I was in the government, I would do it the same way,” Sauter said. “You always write it in a way that when people read it they’re like, ‘Oh gosh, that’s going to be really bad.’ I’m hesitant to say how I feel about it because it doesn’t always accurately reflect the way the evidence is really going to play out in court.”
Yeah, very little internet (tweet or articles) chatter on this despite the fact that per that article the Angels are basically refusing to supply some of the information surrounding the T Skaggs investigation...despite being subpoena'd to do just that. Were it the Astros that were doing that, the internet criticism would be deafening.
In LA banging on a trashcan is worse than banging on a woman's skull as well as running a drug operation out of the clubhouse where a player died of an overdose. Forever and always, Orange Team Bad.
Matt Harvey and Andrew Heaney are among seven former Angels who have been revealed as witnesses in former Angels employee Eric Kay’s upcoming criminal trial in connection to the death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs. Also among the 79 witnesses presented by the prosecution are C.J. Cron, Garrett Richards, Blake Parker, Cam Bedrosian and Michael Morin. None of the players will testify that Kay provided them with drugs, according to the witness list made publicly available on Thursday afternoon. Richards will testify that Kay approached him about acquiring his unused oxycodone medication. Harvey, Cron, Parker and Morin will testify to their interactions with both Kay and Skaggs, and that Kay provided oxycodone to Skaggs and others. They'll testify to knowledge of Skaggs’ use of the drugs, as well as the lingo used when discussing the drugs. Heaney will testify to his attempts to contact Skaggs on the day of Skaggs’ death, as well as provide background information on Skaggs. Among the other Angels employees listed are former head of Angels public relations Tim Mead, who is no longer with the team. He was named in two wrongful death lawsuits related to Skaggs’ death, but his name was later taken off. He’ll testify about Kay’s work performance and hospitalization for addiction. Angels employees involved in public relations and team security are on the witness list. Skaggs’ widow, Carli Skaggs, is on the witness list. So too is MLB agent Ryan Hamill, who will testify about injuries Skaggs sustained throughout his career. The players also appear on the prosecution’s witness list. Anyone cited can be called to testify. Jury selection is scheduled for Tuesday in Fort Worth, Texas, with opening arguments likely to begin the following day.
https://theathletic.com/3119485/202...s-matt-harvey-provided-pills-defense-alleges/ FORT WORTH, Texas — After 14 months of delays, former Angels communications director Eric Kay’s trial finally began Tuesday in U.S. District Court. The 47-year-old is charged with distributing a controlled substance (fentanyl) that contributed to the death of former Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs. He’s also charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute. Kay has pleaded not guilty and could face up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted. In its opening statement, the prosecution attempted to establish a clear timeline of events and tried to eliminate the possibility that Skaggs could have acquired the fatal fentanyl-laced oxycodone that killed him July 1, 2019 from anyone other than Kay, or anywhere outside of Texas. The defense quickly tried to establish reasonable doubt, noting it was impossible to prove that Skaggs would have lived if not for the fentanyl in his system. The defense also introduced other potential drug suppliers, namely former Angels pitcher Matt Harvey. And it tried to establish that Kay only provided oxycodone to Skaggs in California. Notably, the prosecution needs to prove the alleged crimes happened in Texas to secure a conviction. “Eric never gave anything in Texas,” said defense attorney Reagan Wynn. Kay had been with the Angels organization since he was an intern in 1995. His defense team said he struggled with an addiction to Norco (hydrocodone), and later oxycodone, but has been clean for nearly two years. His family was in attendance, and he exited court with his arm wrapped around a family member. The day began with jury selection, while Kay feverishly wrote dozens of yellow Post-it notes. The defense attempted to weed out jurors who might have negative preconceived notions about Kay — asking potential jurors to rate 1 to 10 how much they agreed Kay is guilty just because the government charged him. The prosecution tried to avoid potential jurors who might be more sympathetic to Kay, given that his intent was not to hurt Skaggs. After the jury was selected, opening statements began following a lunch break. Former Angels starting pitcher Andrew Heaney also testified before court broke for the evening. He’ll return on Wednesday for cross-examination. Skaggs was found dead just hours before the Angels were scheduled to play the Rangers in Arlington, Texas, with medical examiners finding fentanyl, oxycodone and alcohol in his system, resulting in his death from choking on vomit. He was 27. Just the day before, Skaggs jovially emceed on the flight with the team, playing cards and drinking beer, according to the prosecution and Heaney’s testimony. The prosecution attempted to lay out a timeline in its opening statement that proved Kay did not have access to Skaggs until allegedly providing the lethal drugs late on the night of June 30 in Southlake, Texas. The prosecution showed Skaggs texted Kay that night asking for oxycodone, stating it had key-card evidence showing Kay left his room and went to Skaggs’ room. The prosecution said that within minutes, Skaggs had sent his final text with his wife, Carli, at 12:02 a.m. She tried communicating with Skaggs numerous times that evening and began to grow worried the next day. Heaney said he sent numerous texts to Skaggs and searched for him at the hotel and at a nearby Apple Store. After being unable to locate him, Heaney contacted traveling secretary Tom Taylor, which led to the discovery of Skaggs’ body. “He chose to deflect, deny and deceive,” prosecutor Lindsey Beran said in her opening statement, referring to Kay’s comments to investigators in the immediate aftermath of Skaggs’ death. Kay’s attorneys said they do not disagree that he lied about seeing Skaggs the night before, or being deceitful about the pair’s drug use. The prosecution said it will have current Angels communications director Adam Chodzko testify that Kay confided to him that he lied to police. For the defense, Wynn said Kay recounted going to Skaggs’ hotel room on the night of June 30, 2019, shortly before Skaggs’ death. He said he saw Skaggs with three powdery lines on a surface in front of him. One of the lines was pink, and Skaggs allegedly told Kay the pink pills were Percocet provided to him by Harvey, according to Wynn. Harvey is a witness for the prosecution and is expected to testify later this week or early next week. The defense also said Kay attempted to acquire oxycodone from Angels clubhouse attendant Hector Vazquez after deleting his other drug contacts following his month-long stint in an intensive outpatient addiction rehab program in April 2019. The prosecution said MLB players will testify, and it was noted in court that Kay allegedly provided pills to players other than Skaggs. Among users in the Angels clubhouse, per the prosecution, the drugs were often called “Blues,” “Blue Boys” or “Blubies” because of their blue color. The prosecution also said Kay often acquired oxycodone through a website called OfferUp and even expressed concern of purchasing counterfeit drugs, allegedly asking to make sure he didn’t purchase anything with fentanyl. It is far more potent than oxycodone and can be lethal, even in small doses. The defense said the pair’s relationship began in spring training 2014, when Kay allegedly asked Skaggs about acquiring prescription pills. The defense said Skaggs readily helped him that day, and the interaction established a dynamic that continued for years. Kay began providing drugs illegally in 2017, according to the prosecution. Heaney, who called Skaggs his best friend on the team, said he had no idea Skaggs dealt with addiction or that Kay was allegedly providing him with drugs. The two would often go out to eat on the road and Heaney said Skaggs’ outgoing demeanor balanced out his introverted persona well. Testimony for the day ended with Heaney saying he still misses Skaggs. Kay and his attorneys declined further comment when exiting the courtroom.
Perhaps baseball should launch an investigation into this and fans should vilify the Angels organization. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id...gs-former-los-angeles-angels-staffer-eric-kay
