SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) — Jurors in the Tyler Skaggs wrongful death civil trial listened to opening statements Tuesday and will have to decide if the Los Angeles Angels team is responsible for the pitcher’s overdose death while on a road trip to Texas in 2019.

Attorneys for the widow and parents of Skaggs told jurors that for years, Angels executives ignored obvious signs of drug abuse by Eric Kay, the team’s communications director, until he provided a fatal dose of fentanyl to the 27-year-old Skaggs.

“They buried their heads in the sand over and over and over again, and as a result, Tyler Skaggs is dead,” attorney Shawn Holley told jurors. “Eric regularly supplied the drugs they needed to perform, and they trusted him. It was rampant, out of control and incredibly dangerous.”

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The widow and mother of Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs tell their story on camera for the first time since Skaggs died after taking fentanyl-laced oxycodone in 2019.

The Skaggs family says the Angels knew Kay was supplying drugs to Skaggs and at least six other Angels players.

Kay was convicted three years ago of supplying fentanyl-laced oxycodone to Skaggs and is currently serving a 22-year sentence in federal prison.

But the attorney representing the Angels told the jury that the deadly dose of oxycodone did not come from Kay, and that autopsy reports show Skaggs died because he mixed a large amount of alcohol with the drug, which he then snorted, increasing its potency.

“He died due to his reckless decision to mix large amounts of alcohol with narcotics on the night he died, and he did that to get high,” Angels attorney Todd Theodora told jurors. “The evidence will show that Angels baseball did not know that Tyler had a drug problem or that Eric Kay was distributing drugs to any player. Period. End of story.”

The Angels are also making the case that team management was unaware Skaggs had struggled for years with drugs and alcohol.

“Angels baseball did not kill Tyler Skaggs,” said Theodora. “We wish he had told us about his troubles, and we could have helped him.”

Now that the case has gone to trial, the Skaggs’ family attorney wouldn’t say how much the family is seeking in damages, but in early negotiations with the Angels, they were asking for more than $200 million.

The trial is expected to last weeks.


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