California
Trial underway over Angels’ alleged role in baseball pitcher Tyler Skaggs’ overdose death
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A wrongful-death lawsuit that accuses the Los Angeles Angels of being responsible for the 2019 drug overdose death of one of its star pitchers began Monday.
Jury selection was underway in the long-awaited civil trial over whether the Major League Baseball team is responsible after one of its employees was convicted of providing drugs that led to the fatal overdose of pitcher Tyler Skaggs on a team trip to Texas.
Opening statements are expected by the end of the week.
The wrongful death lawsuit filed by Skaggs’ widow, Carli, and his parents, alleges the Southern California team knew or should have known that its communications director, Eric Kay, was supplying drugs to Skaggs and at least six other Angels’ players. Kay had a lengthy history of drug abuse and went to rehab while working for the team, which had many athletes who were playing through injuries and pain, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also contends that Kay told federal agents two Angels employees knew about his drug dealings to players.
The Angels, however, counter that despite Kay’s conviction, autopsy results showed that Skaggs had also been drinking and taking oxycodone. In court filings, the team said Skaggs didn’t take painkillers the way they were prescribed but snorted them while drinking alcohol, and should have known the risk of doing so.
“Tyler was off-duty when he was in his hotel room,” said Todd Theodora, an attorney for the Angels. “The team had no ability to put a guard in his room or otherwise try to prevent him from mixing the alcohol with the pills he was taking that night.”
Hardin said the lawsuit seeks hundreds of millions of dollars in lost potential earnings as well as for the loss the family suffered.
The trial comes more than six years after the 27-year-old Skaggs was found dead in the suburban Dallas hotel room where he was staying as the Angels were supposed to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. A coroner’s report said Skaggs had choked to death on his vomit and that a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was found in his system.
Kay was convicted in 2022 of providing Skaggs with an oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl and sentenced to 22 years in federal prison. His federal criminal trial in Texas included testimony from five Major League Baseball players who said they received oxycodone from Kay at various times from 2017 to 2019, the years he was accused of obtaining pills and giving them to Angels players.
The case has cast a spotlight on the use of painkillers by professional athletes as the United States has grappled with a wave of overdose deaths, many due to the potency of fentanyl. Overdoses were the leading cause of death for people 18-44 years old in 2024, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and reached 80,000 in that year and 110,00 in 2023.
After Skaggs’ death, Major League Baseball reached a deal with the players’ association to start testing for opioids and to refer those who test positive to the treatment board.
Skaggs had been a regular in the Angels’ starting rotation since late 2016, when the left-hander returned from Tommy John surgery. He struggled with injuries repeatedly during that time.
Before pitching for the Angels, Skaggs played for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The trial in Orange County is expected to take weeks and could include testimony from players including Angels outfielder Mike Trout and the team’s former pitcher, Wade Miley, who currently plays for the Cincinnati Reds.
Georgia
Judge sets 14-day deadline for appointment of new prosecutor in election case against Trump
ATLANTA (AP) — The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case against President Donald Trump and others says he will dismiss the case in 14 days if a new prosecutor hasn’t been appointed to take it over.
Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee set the deadline in a one-paragraph order Friday afternoon. It is up to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia to name a prosecutor for the case after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was disqualified from continuing the prosecution.
“Should an appointed prosecuting attorney or representative of PAC fail to file an entry of appearance or request a particularized extension within 14 days from the entry of this Notice, the Court will issue a dismissal without prejudice for want of prosecution,” the judge wrote.
When Willis announced the indictment against Trump and 18 others in August 2023, the nearly 100-page indictment was the most sweeping of four criminal cases brought against the then-former president in a span of five months. She used the state’s anti-racketeering law to allege a wide-ranging conspiracy to try to illegally overturn Trump’s narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Even if a new prosecutor is named within the two-week deadline it is unlikely that any prosecution against Trump could move forward while he is the sitting president. But there are 14 other people still facing charges in the case, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.
If a new prosecutor is named, that person could continue on the track that Willis had charted, decide to pursue only some charges or dismiss the case altogether.
Defense attorneys sought Willis’ removal after one of them revealed in January 2024 that Willis had engaged in a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she had hired to lead the case. The defense attorneys said the relationship created a conflict of interest, alleging that Willis personally profited from the case when Wade used his earnings to pay for vacations the pair took.
During an extraordinary hearing the following month, Willis and Wade both testified about the intimate details of their personal relationship. They maintained that their romance didn’t begin until after Wade was hired and said that they split the costs for vacations and other outings.
McAfee rebuked Willis, saying in an order in March 2024 that her actions showed a “tremendous lapse in judgment.” But he said he did not find a conflict of interest that would disqualify Willis. He ultimately ruled that Willis could remain on the case if Wade resigned, which the special prosecutor did hours later.
Defense attorneys appealed that ruling, and the Georgia Court of Appeals removed Willis from the case in December, citing an “appearance of impropriety.” The high court last month declined to hear Willis’ appeal, putting the case in the lap of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council.
Trial underway over Angels’ alleged role in baseball pitcher Tyler Skaggs’ overdose death
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A wrongful-death lawsuit that accuses the Los Angeles Angels of being responsible for the 2019 drug overdose death of one of its star pitchers began Monday.
Jury selection was underway in the long-awaited civil trial over whether the Major League Baseball team is responsible after one of its employees was convicted of providing drugs that led to the fatal overdose of pitcher Tyler Skaggs on a team trip to Texas.
Opening statements are expected by the end of the week.
The wrongful death lawsuit filed by Skaggs’ widow, Carli, and his parents, alleges the Southern California team knew or should have known that its communications director, Eric Kay, was supplying drugs to Skaggs and at least six other Angels’ players. Kay had a lengthy history of drug abuse and went to rehab while working for the team, which had many athletes who were playing through injuries and pain, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also contends that Kay told federal agents two Angels employees knew about his drug dealings to players.
The Angels, however, counter that despite Kay’s conviction, autopsy results showed that Skaggs had also been drinking and taking oxycodone. In court filings, the team said Skaggs didn’t take painkillers the way they were prescribed but snorted them while drinking alcohol, and should have known the risk of doing so.
“Tyler was off-duty when he was in his hotel room,” said Todd Theodora, an attorney for the Angels. “The team had no ability to put a guard in his room or otherwise try to prevent him from mixing the alcohol with the pills he was taking that night.”
Hardin said the lawsuit seeks hundreds of millions of dollars in lost potential earnings as well as for the loss the family suffered.
The trial comes more than six years after the 27-year-old Skaggs was found dead in the suburban Dallas hotel room where he was staying as the Angels were supposed to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. A coroner’s report said Skaggs had choked to death on his vomit and that a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was found in his system.
Kay was convicted in 2022 of providing Skaggs with an oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl and sentenced to 22 years in federal prison. His federal criminal trial in Texas included testimony from five Major League Baseball players who said they received oxycodone from Kay at various times from 2017 to 2019, the years he was accused of obtaining pills and giving them to Angels players.
The case has cast a spotlight on the use of painkillers by professional athletes as the United States has grappled with a wave of overdose deaths, many due to the potency of fentanyl. Overdoses were the leading cause of death for people 18-44 years old in 2024, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and reached 80,000 in that year and 110,00 in 2023.
After Skaggs’ death, Major League Baseball reached a deal with the players’ association to start testing for opioids and to refer those who test positive to the treatment board.
Skaggs had been a regular in the Angels’ starting rotation since late 2016, when the left-hander returned from Tommy John surgery. He struggled with injuries repeatedly during that time.
Before pitching for the Angels, Skaggs played for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The trial in Orange County is expected to take weeks and could include testimony from players including Angels outfielder Mike Trout and the team’s former pitcher, Wade Miley, who currently plays for the Cincinnati Reds.
Georgia
Judge sets 14-day deadline for appointment of new prosecutor in election case against Trump
ATLANTA (AP) — The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case against President Donald Trump and others says he will dismiss the case in 14 days if a new prosecutor hasn’t been appointed to take it over.
Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee set the deadline in a one-paragraph order Friday afternoon. It is up to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia to name a prosecutor for the case after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was disqualified from continuing the prosecution.
“Should an appointed prosecuting attorney or representative of PAC fail to file an entry of appearance or request a particularized extension within 14 days from the entry of this Notice, the Court will issue a dismissal without prejudice for want of prosecution,” the judge wrote.
When Willis announced the indictment against Trump and 18 others in August 2023, the nearly 100-page indictment was the most sweeping of four criminal cases brought against the then-former president in a span of five months. She used the state’s anti-racketeering law to allege a wide-ranging conspiracy to try to illegally overturn Trump’s narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Even if a new prosecutor is named within the two-week deadline it is unlikely that any prosecution against Trump could move forward while he is the sitting president. But there are 14 other people still facing charges in the case, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.
If a new prosecutor is named, that person could continue on the track that Willis had charted, decide to pursue only some charges or dismiss the case altogether.
Defense attorneys sought Willis’ removal after one of them revealed in January 2024 that Willis had engaged in a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she had hired to lead the case. The defense attorneys said the relationship created a conflict of interest, alleging that Willis personally profited from the case when Wade used his earnings to pay for vacations the pair took.
During an extraordinary hearing the following month, Willis and Wade both testified about the intimate details of their personal relationship. They maintained that their romance didn’t begin until after Wade was hired and said that they split the costs for vacations and other outings.
McAfee rebuked Willis, saying in an order in March 2024 that her actions showed a “tremendous lapse in judgment.” But he said he did not find a conflict of interest that would disqualify Willis. He ultimately ruled that Willis could remain on the case if Wade resigned, which the special prosecutor did hours later.
Defense attorneys appealed that ruling, and the Georgia Court of Appeals removed Willis from the case in December, citing an “appearance of impropriety.” The high court last month declined to hear Willis’ appeal, putting the case in the lap of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council.
