Witness Reveals Intimate Details about the Skaggs Case
In the trial for the death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs, his former teammate on the Los Angeles Angels, Mike Morin, offered crucial testimony. Morin stated that both he, Skaggs, and Eric Kay, a team employee who provided them with pills, secretly used drugs. Furthermore, he emphasized that the responsibility lies in individual actions. Morin reported that during the 2017 season, he believed that only he, Skaggs, and Kay were aware of the situation. He stated that he did not share this information with his wife or family, and that he was aware of the illegality of his actions.Faced with the question of Skaggs’ responsibility in his decision to consume alcohol and opioids the night of his death, Morin responded that Skaggs was responsible for his actions. This statement supports the position of the Angels, who argue that Skaggs’ reckless decisions were the cause of his accidental overdose death in 2019. The Angels have maintained that they were unaware of Skaggs’ drug problems or Kay’s distribution of substances. The Skaggs family’s lawyers allege that the team put Skaggs in danger by knowing Kay’s situation and keeping him in his position. Kay is serving a 22-year prison sentence after being found guilty of supplying Skaggs with the fatal oxycodone pill containing fentanyl. Morin testified that Kay provided them with 30-milligram oxycodone pills, known as “blue boys.” He described how, on occasion, he and Skaggs would crush and snort the pills in the club’s bathroom. The distribution of pills was, according to Morin, “extremely discreet.” He remembers leaving money in his locker, where Kay would leave the pills. Morin also mentioned an incident in which he waited with Kay outside the players’ parking lot to receive the pills, but felt uncomfortable and left. He stated that he never questioned how Kay obtained the pills, assuming they were pharmaceutical-grade medications.“I think he didn’t want many people to know what he was doing”
Mike Morin
Morin expressed the pressure felt by professional players to stay in the Major Leagues and the difficulty for others to understand “the immense ups and downs” that it entails. He concluded by saying that he felt “100 percent ashamed” of his actions. Morin’s testimony came a day after Skaggs’ mother, Debbie Hetman, stated that she had not informed anyone with the Angels about her son’s Percocet addiction in 2013, although she would have informed them if asked. During her testimony, lawyers questioned Hetman about previous statements in which she claimed not to believe her son had a Percocet addiction in 2013. She responded that she had not used the word “addiction” in her statement, but that “problem, issue, addiction, it’s all the same”. The trial continues with the testimony of compensation experts, who are expected to explain how much Skaggs could have earned in the rest of his career.“I had no idea, in a very naive way, that a prescription pill could be contaminated”
Mike Morin
