Ex-Angels employee accused in Skaggs case doesn't testify

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Defense attorneys rested their case Wednesday without the testimony of a former Los Angeles Angels employee accused of providing the drugs that led to the overdose death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs.

A brief and uneventful presentation from the defense came a day after federal prosecutors concluded their case with the gripping testimony of four major league players acknowledging past drug use while saying they received oxycodone pills from defendant Eric Kay.

Kay, who faces drug distribution and conspiracy charges, obtained oxycodone pills for players and was a user, according to testimony. Pitcher Blake Parker, the last of six witnesses called by the defense, testified that he received opioids from Kay in 2018, the last year Parker played for the Angels.

Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday, the eighth day of Kay's trial in downtown Fort Worth. The federal court is about 15 miles from where the Angels were supposed to play the Texas Rangers when Skaggs was found dead in his suburban Dallas hotel room on July 1, 2019. He was 27.

A coroner’s report said Skaggs had choked to death on his vomit, and a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was in his system.

Prosecutors contended Kay was the only one who could have provided the drugs that led to Skaggs’ death, and that the drugs were delivered after the team arrived in Texas. An expert testified for the government that Skaggs died because of the fentanyl, which is significantly more potent than oxycodone.

The defense countered that Skaggs had multiple suppliers, that Kay didn't give him drugs after the team arrived in Texas and that there's no way to prove fentanyl caused the death.

Kay faces a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and maximum of life on the distribution charge...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Ex-Angels-employee-accused-in-Skaggs-case-doesn-t-16924870.php