Witness Reveals Details in the Skaggs Case
In the trial for the death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs, his former teammate Mike Morin testified about the discretion with which drug use was handled among the players and a team employee. Morin stated that both he, Skaggs, and Eric Kay, who provided them with the pills, kept their use of illicit substances secret. Morin stated that only the three of them were aware of the situation and that he did not inform his wife or family about what was happening. He also expressed that he was aware of the illegality of his actions and how he believed Skaggs felt about it.Faced with the question of whether Skaggs was responsible for his decisions, Morin answered in the affirmative after a long pause. This statement supports the Angels’ position, who argue that Skaggs’ reckless decisions were the cause of his accidental overdose death in 2019. The Angels have maintained that they are not responsible for Skaggs’ death and that they were unaware of his drug problems. Skaggs’ family alleges that the team put Skaggs in danger by knowing about Kay’s drug use and continuing to employ him. Morin recounted how Skaggs connected him with Kay in 2017, and that before that, he would never have imagined that Kay would offer illicit pills to the players. Kay is serving a 22-year prison sentence after being found guilty in 2022 of providing Skaggs with the fatal pill of oxycodone mixed with fentanyl. Morin recalled that Kay provided them with 30-milligram oxycodone pills, known as “blue boys.” He described how they sometimes crushed a pill and inhaled it in the club’s bathroom, and that the distribution of pills was generally “extremely discreet.” According to his testimony, Morin received pills from Kay between five and eight times during the 2017 season. Once, he waited with Kay outside the players’ parking lot to receive the pills, but felt uncomfortable and left. Morin also admitted that he did not question how Kay obtained the pills, assuming they were pharmaceutical-grade medications. “I was completely ignorant, in a very naive way, that a prescription pill could be contaminated,” he said. “So I assumed that any pill we were going to get wouldn’t be fatal.” Morin shared the pressures that professional players feel to stay in MLB and how difficult it is for those who are not in the locker rooms to understand “the immense ups and downs” that it entails. Morin’s testimony came a day after Skaggs’ mother, Debbie Hetman, stated that she had not informed anyone in the Angels about her son’s Percocet addiction in 2013. Hetman was also questioned about previous statements in which she claimed she did not believe her son had a Percocet addiction in 2013.“I think he didn’t want many people to know what he was doing,” Morin said.
Mike Morin
The trial continues with testimony from compensation experts who are expected to explain how much Skaggs could have earned in the rest of his career.“I just didn’t use the word addiction,” Hetman said about her testimony. “You can use whatever word you want. Problem, issue, addiction, it’s all the same.”
Debbie Hetman
