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The wrongful death trial of former Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs is in its sixth week, and his widow and mother took the stand Monday.
Carli Skaggs, who began dating the MLB pitcher in 2014, said she knew Skaggs had previously battled a Percocet addiction before their relationship, but did not know he was still using the drug at the time of his death.
Skaggs died in 2019 after taking fentanyl-laced oxycodone provided by former team communications director Eric Kay, who is serving a 22-year prison sentence, mixed with alcohol.
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Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs’ wife, Carli, with Skaggs’ mother, Debbie Hetman, in the dugout before a game against the Seattle Mariners on July 12, 2019, in Anaheim, California. (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 didn’t discover until about a year after they started dating. Carli admitted that her husband took an ecstasy pill on their honeymoon and that they smoked marijuana together, but stopped when they wanted to start a family.
A lawyer representing the Skaggs family asked Carli if she was “able to think of an occasion” in which she might have realized Skaggs was using.
“No. And I’ve been racking my brain for something I might have missed,” she responded, via The Orange County Register.
Debbie Hetman, Skaggs’ mother, testified that the Angels never asked her about her son’s past addiction and would have told them if they had asked. She also said she asked Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the doctor who performed her Tommy John surgery in 2014, to prescribe her a different painkiller because of her previous addiction.
Tyler Skaggs of the Los Angeles Angels throws during the first inning against the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium on June 6, 2019, in Anaheim, California. (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 maintain that Skaggs, although Kay gave him the pill, took the drugs during 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 played the Texas Rangers.
Former New York Mets ace Matt Harvey admitted during Kay’s trial that he supplied drugs to Skaggs. The two were teammates on the Angels the year Skaggs died. Harvey, CJ Cron, Mike Morin and Cam Bedrosian also testified in court that Kay supplied them with drugs.
Members of the Los Angeles Angels after players placed their jerseys on the mound in honor of Tyler Skaggs after he pitched a no-hitter to defeat the Seattle Mariners on July 12, 2019, in Anaheim, California. (Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
Mike Trout testified that players would pay Kay for bizarre stunts, leaving Trout to raise an eyebrow. At one point, a club employee suggested the players stop, Trout said, because Kay might use the money for “bad purposes,” which Trout immediately assumed was drugs. The three-time MVP said he only saw Skaggs smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol, never thinking he was using other drugs.
