[stevenash]

Former Angels public relations director Eric Kay was sentenced to 22 years in prison by a federal judge on Tuesday in Fort Worth, Texas.

Kay was convicted in February of distribution of a controlled substance resulting in the death of Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs. He was also convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.



Skaggs died in the early hours of July 1, 2019, after inviting Kay to his hotel room. Kay had been a drug supplier for Skaggs, as well as other Angels players. The jury ruled that the pill Kay gave Skaggs had fentanyl and that Skaggs would have survived but for the fentanyl in his system.


The conviction carried a minimum sentence of 20 years. According to the Washington Post, District Judge Terry Means said Kay faced a longer sentence because of remarks he made in prison.


“I hope people realize what a piece of s— he was,” Kay said of Skaggs on a recorded phone call while in prison that was played by prosecutors. “…Well, he’s dead, so f— him.”

Kay plans to appeal the conviction, a process that must begin after sentencing. Sentencing was delayed by several months after both of Kay’s lawyers left the case. One of those lawyers, Reagan Wynn, was suspended from practicing law on an unrelated matter in the months following Kay’s conviction.


Kay spoke on his behalf in court, as did members of his family, according to the Washington Post. Kay’s family would like for him to serve his sentence as close as possible to his Southern California home.



The case garnered national attention in February as numerous former Angels players testified that they illegally purchased pain pills from Kay, who had spent May 2019 in an outpatient rehab program. The Angels flew to Texas for a series with the Rangers on June 30, and the case was tried in Tarrant County.
The trial took eight days, and the jury deliberated for just over an hour before coming back with the guilty verdict. Prosecutors needed to show there was a preponderance of evidence (better than 50 percent) that Kay gave Skaggs the pills in the state of Texas.


The Skaggs family remains in active litigation with lawsuits in both California and Texas. Skaggs’ parents filed wrongful death lawsuits against both Kay and the Angels in Texas, while Skaggs’ widow, Carli, is suing the Angels in California, alleging negligence.

[stevenash]

Let me get this straight?
This idiot Kay supplies Skaggs a dose of lethal fentanyl which kills him, then mother f*cks him from prison no less by saying pretty much saying I'm glad he's dead.

Karma would be hearing about Bubba giving Kay the whole ten inches up the crap hole, without prion lube yet, contracts AIDS and dies a slow panful death.

Yeah, that works for me.

[flyingillini]

This is absurd and very scary that this sort of thing is happening. People OD and die all the time. The drug dealer is not prosecuted.

[johnnyvegas13]

Sooo many people died from fentonalll

[Mac4Lyfe]

The Skaggs family remains in active litigation with lawsuits in both California and Texas. Skaggs’ parents filed wrongful death lawsuits against both Kay and the Angels in Texas, while Skaggs’ widow, Carli, is suing the Angels in California, alleging negligence.

Sad case but how can the parents of Skagg file lawsuits? They're son was a grown ass man and he chose to do drugs. WTH does the Angels have to do with him and his drug dealer? Skaggs was no longer a minor, so why would the parents stand to gain? The wife may have a case but then again why are you suing the Angels? The Angels didn't give him the drugs. A guy who just so happened to work for the Angels did. Should a person be able to sue FedEx or Walmart because some driver or check out person is also a drug dealer on the side?

[stake1]

Moreno is selling the team, wonder how this ugliness and lawsuits everywhere will effect that?

[Foxx]

Sad case but how can the parents of Skagg file lawsuits? They're son was a grown ass man and he chose to do drugs. WTH does the Angels have to do with him and his drug dealer? Skaggs was no longer a minor, so why would the parents stand to gain? The wife may have a case but then again why are you suing the Angels? The Angels didn't give him the drugs. A guy who just so happened to work for the Angels did. Should a person be able to sue FedEx or Walmart because some driver or check out person is also a drug dealer on the side?

Maybe the parents are filing on behalf of his estate in the event on of them is the representative.

[Mac4Lyfe]

Maybe the parents are filing on behalf of his estate in the event on of them is the representative.

Good point but you would think that would fall on the wife unless they were estranged??

[Mac4Lyfe]

Why would the suits be separate? And why is the wife not suing Kay? Seems a bit weird?

[Foxx]

Good point but you would think that would fall on the wife unless they were estranged??

They were only recently married. Maybe he setup a will before they got hitched and he never updated it? It's not my area of expertise though.

[flyingillini]

Are there any real lawyers here at SBR that can chime in here?

[Mac4Lyfe]

They were only recently married. Maybe he setup a will before they got hitched and he never updated it? It's not my area of expertise though.

Okay, that makes sense. Thanks for clearing it up.

[Optional]

Are there any real lawyers here at SBR that can chime in here?

I agree it seems like a long sentence for being a dealer. Unless they say he knowingly gave him lethal stuff.

Makes the WNBA woman in Russia getting 9 years not seem so whack I guess.

[Easy-Rider 66]

I agree it seems like a long sentence for being a dealer. Unless they say he knowingly gave him lethal stuff.

Makes the WNBA woman in Russia getting 9 years not seem so whack I guess.

apples and oranges as a death resulted in this case and fetanyl is no joke compared to a vial of Hash.

[209 Life]

If Skaggs had fent test kit he would still be here they are like 20 bucks online.

[Mac4Lyfe]

If Skaggs had fent test kit he would still be here they are like 20 bucks online.

I've never heard of a test kit? How does that work?

[209 Life]

I've never heard of a test kit? How does that work?

It's called amazon search. Might want to figure that out first.

[JIBBBY]

China winning. Killing Americans with Fenty. Close the borders and punish the drug smuggling cartel!

[VeggieDog]

Apples and oranges, but....

It's interesting how we go after drug dealers when someone o.d.'s, but when someone stumbles / staggers out of a bar, drives, and kills someone, we don't think twice about the bartender.

[JIBBBY]

Dealers may as well be handing out anthrax. If newbies try it they die because they haven't built up resistance. It's a death pill!

You deal fentanyl then you need to get punished for murder. It's the only way to get it to stop. Death sentence to dealers.

[stevenash]

There's several reasons as to why the fentanyl epidemic is out of control.

A lot of the users (not all of them) but a lot of them that have legit, 100 percent valid reasons to be on prescribed Oxy can't get a prescription.

That's because the feds tightened the screws on the medical professionals like a hangman's noose and overreacted to the opioid crisis so tight that doctors are now petrified to sign off on a patient that actually does need that pain relief.

Extra strength tylenol has no affect on that type of pain, so what's a person to do if they can't get the meds they need?
They go to the streets and cop some of that heroin, which evolved into the even more deadly heroin, fentanyl.

What needs to be done is make it easier for a patient that needs OXY to obtain it without having to jump through hoops to get it, and monitor the dosage prescribed and so forth.

I understand back in the day you could get an OXY script for a hangnail, I agree that was wrong, not as wrong as denying the person who really needs it though.

[Mac4Lyfe]

It's called amazon search. Might want to figure that out first.

im not sure if you’re trying to be a dick or not. Yes you can test your urine but you would have already ingested a lethal dose, so I’m not following you? I thought you might be talking about a test of the drugs before you ingest? So how does that work? I’m sure there’s a way to do it but I’ve never seen it. I’m thinking you could use a mass spectrometer.