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Law360 (November 13, 2020, 7:07 PM EST) -- A Texas federal judge on Friday ordered a four-month delay of the criminal trial of a former Los Angeles Angels staffer accused of supplying MLB pitcher Tyler Skaggs with a fatal dose of fentanyl, after his defense lawyer contracted the coronavirus.
U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means granted a joint motion to continue the trial of former Los Angeles Angels communications director Eric Kay, which was set to begin on Dec. 14. Kay's attorney, William Reagan Wynn of Reagan Wynn Law PLLC, told the court on Nov. 5 that he had been diagnosed with COVID-19 late last month and can't meet with his client or adequately prepare for trial while recovering from the illness under quarantine.
Wynn had said that discovery in the case is expected to be "voluminous" and that he will need more time to sift through it and prepare pretrial motions. Prosecutors joined him in the request to push back the trial.
Judge Means said in Friday's order — which reset the trial date to April 19, 2021 — that not granting a continuance "would deny counsel the reasonable time necessary for effective preparation, taking into account the exercise of due diligence."
He added, "The ends of justice served by granting the requested continuance outweigh the best interests of the public and the defendant in a speedy trial."
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas declined to comment. Wynn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kay, a 25-year veteran of the Angels' media department, was indicted in October and charged with distributing a controlled substance that caused death and possession of fentanyl with the intent to distribute. He turned himself in to authorities in Fort Worth in August.
Federal prosecutors allege that Kay provided Skaggs with the drugs found alongside his body in a Southlake, Texas, hotel room in July 2019, when Skaggs was in town to play the Texas Rangers. Kay pled not guilty last month.
Federal prosecutors said Skaggs died from "mixed ethanol, fentanyl and oxycodone intoxication with terminal aspiration of gastric content." In his hotel room, investigators found several prescription pills and white powder that they later determined contained fentanyl, according to the complaint.
Prosecutors claim they have phone records showing Kay and Skaggs discussing oxycodone. During one conversation cited in the complaint, Kay asked Skaggs how many pills he wanted, and Skaggs said, "Just a few like 5." Kay responded, "Word."
Skaggs and Kay "had a history of narcotic transactions," prosecutors alleged, saying Kay also provided drugs to others. From at least 2017 to 2019, Kay allegedly provided counterfeit 30-milligram blue oxycodone pills, which he called "blue boys," to Skaggs and others, "doling out the pills at the stadium where they worked."
In a statement issued in August, the Angels said the organization has fully cooperated with law enforcement and MLB. It also hired a former federal prosecutor to conduct an independent investigation.
"The circumstances surrounding his death are a tragedy that has impacted countless individuals and their families," the team said.
U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox said in an August statement that stopping the spread of fentanyl is a top priority for federal prosecutors.
"Tyler Skaggs's overdose — coming, as it did, in the midst of an ascendant baseball career — should be a wakeup call: No one is immune from this deadly drug, whether sold as a powder or hidden inside an innocuous-looking tablet," Nealy Cox said.
The government is represented by Lindsey Beran and Errin Martin of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas.
Kay is represented by William Reagan Wynn of Reagan Wynn Law PLLC.
The case is U.S. v. Eric Kay, case number 4:20-cr-00269, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
--Additional reporting by Jack Queen, Clark Mindock and Hailey Konnath. Editing by Daniel King.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
