A former Los Angeles Angels worker was sentenced to 22 years in federal jail Tuesday for offering Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs the medicine that led to his 2019 overdose dying in Texas.
Eric Kay, a former media relations director for the Angels, wearing an orange jumpsuit with handcuffs and leg shackles, did not react when U.S. District Decide Terry R. Means learn his sentence. Kay confronted at the very least 20 years in jail on one of many two counts.
There was no response from Skaggs' widow and mom or members of Kay's household, together with one in all his sons who testified on his behalf earlier than sentencing.
Prosecutors introduced proof of Kay, 48, making derogatory feedback about Skaggs, his household, prosecutors and jurors in telephone calls and emails after he was convicted in February.
There was emotional testimony from each side in federal courtroom in Fort Value, about 15 miles from the place the Angels had been alleged to open a four-game collection towards the Texas Rangers on July 1, 2019, the day Skaggs was discovered useless in a suburban Dallas lodge room.
In February, Kay was convicted by a jury on one rely every of drug distribution leading to dying and drug conspiracy.
A coroner's report mentioned Skaggs, 27, had choked to dying on his vomit and that a poisonous mixture of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was in his system.
The trial included testimony from 5 main league gamers who mentioned they obtained oxycodone drugs from Kay at varied occasions from 2017-19, the years Kay was accused of acquiring drugs and giving them to gamers at Angel Stadium. Kay additionally used medicine himself, in keeping with testimony and courtroom paperwork.
In December of 2019, Main League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred introduced that the league would start drug testing gamers for opioids. On the time, Manfred advised reporters that Skaggs' dying helped spark the negotiations with the participant's union on the brand new coverage.
"A dying of a serious league participant it's a devastating occasion," Manfred mentioned, including that "it was a motivating issue within the commissioner's workplace and the MLBPA and addressing within the context of our business what actually is a societal drawback."