The trial of former Angels employee Eric Kay in connection with the overdose death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs has been delayed for the third time.
In response to a defense motion, US District Judge Terry R. Means issued an order Wednesday rescheduling the trial for October 4. The order stated that “failure to grant an extension would deny the defendant’s attorney the reasonable time necessary for effective preparation …”
The trial was supposed to begin Aug. 16 in Fort Worth, but one of Kay’s attorneys, William Reagan Wynn, argued in a motion last week that the defense needed more time to review the evidence.
The motion revealed the possibility of “uncharged co-conspirators” (Kay is the only person charged), but did not provide details.
“From their review of the discovery provided to date, the undersigned attorneys have identified at least three, if not more, individuals who could be argued as non-accused co-conspirators on count one,” the motion read.
“For the purposes of defending the charges in charge one, it is necessary for the undersigned attorney to thoroughly review and analyze the communications, travel, and financial data contained in the numerous… files provided in an attempt to put information that the government has been identified as relevant in context, as well as to look for additional data showing connections, or lack thereof, between people who could potentially be part of the alleged conspiracy ‘.
A grand jury indicted Kay last fall with conspiring to “possess with intent to distribute” fentanyl “from 2017 or earlier” and distribute the drug that allegedly led to Skaggs’ death in a Texas hotel room on July 1, 2019.
Kay, who served as the team’s communications director, has pleaded not guilty.
Investigators found a counterfeit oxycodone pill containing fentanyl in Skaggs’ hotel room.
“It was later determined that, were it not for fentanyl in [Skaggs’] system, [he] I wouldn’t have died, ”Geoffrey Lindenberg, a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, wrote in an affidavit.
In the motion, the defense said that “the undersigned attorneys believe that there is a substantial question of fact as to whether [Skaggs’] death would not have occurred ‘but by’ ingesting the specific substance allegedly delivered by the Respondent on the date in question ‘.
Prosecutors opposed the motion to delay the trial, writing that “it appears that the defendant simply needs additional time to review the discovery …”
Kay faces a legal fight on another front. Last month, the Skaggs family sued the Angels, Kay and former vice president of communications Tim Mead in California and Texas for wrongful death. The Angels called the accusations in the lawsuits “unfounded and irresponsible.”
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