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The wrongful death trial of former Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs has reached its sixth week, and his widow and mother took the stand on Monday.
Carli Skaggs, who began dating the MLB pitcher in 2014, testified that she knew Skaggs battled a previous addiction to Percocet before they dated but did not know he was still using drugs at the time of his death.
Skaggs died in 2019 after taking fentanyl-laced oxycodone supplied by the team’s former communications director, Eric Kay, who is serving 22 years in prison, mixed with alcohol.
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The wife of Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs, Carli, with Skaggs’ mother, Debbie Hetman, in the dugout before a game against the Seattle MarinersJuly 12, 2019, in Anaheim, Calif. (John Cordes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Skaggs had developed his Percocet addiction during his time with the Arizona Diamondbacks in the early 2010s, which Carli had not found out about until roughly a year after they began dating. Carli admitted her husband took an ecstasy pill on their honeymoon, and they smoked marijuana together but stopped when they wanted to start a family.
An attorney representing the Skaggs family asked Carli if she was “able to think of any occasion” in which she could have realized Skaggs was using.
“No. And I have racked my brain for something I could have missed,” she replied, via The Orange County Register.
Debbie Hetman, Skaggs’ mother, testified that the Angels never asked her about her son’s previous addiction and would have told them had they asked. She also said she asked Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the doctor who performed his Tommy John surgery in 2014, to prescribe a different painkiller because of his prior addiction.
Tyler Skaggs of the Los Angeles Angels pitches during the first inning against the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium June 6, 2019, in Anaheim, Calif. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
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Skaggs’ family is seeking $118 million for Skaggs’ lost earnings, compensation for pain and suffering and punitive damages against the team. The Angels argue that Skaggs, despite being given the pill by Kay, took the drugs in his private time on his own accord and that the team is not responsible for his death.
Skaggs was 27 when he was found in a hotel room in Southlake, Texas, before the Angels were to play the Texas Rangers.
Former New York Mets ace Matt Harvey admitted during Kay’s trial that he had supplied drugs to Skaggs. The two were teammates with the Angels in the year of Skaggs’ death. Harvey, C.J. Cron, Mike Morin and Cam Bedrosian also said in court that they had been provided drugs by Kay.
Members of the Los Angeles Angels after players placed their jerseys on the mound in honor of Tyler Skaggs after he threw a combined no-hitter to defeat the Seattle Mariners July 12, 2019, in Anaheim, Calif. (Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
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Mike Trout testified that players would pay Kay for bizarre stunts, leaving Trout to raise an eyebrow. At one point, a clubhouse attendant suggested the players should stop, Trout said, because Kay might be using the money for a “bad purpose,” which Trout said he immediately assumed was drugs. The three-time MVP said he had only seen Skaggs smoke marijuana and drink alcohol, never thinking he was using other drugs.
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