FORT WORTH Texas — It was mentioned almost as an aside during cross-examination at end of eventful day in court. Michael Molfetta, defense attorney, asked a former DEA agent if he knew that Tyler Skaggs had sent a 2019 letter. Los Angeles AngelsTeammate Matt HarveyHe was asked to send a text to his girlfriend asking her to stash drugs in her locker, as she wanted to pitch “loosey goosey.”
The nugget along with the suggestion that Skaggs played in a game while high made it into the record of U.S. against Eric Kay’s testimony on Monday. The testimony was a preview of what Harvey would testify Tuesday. Harvey will be asked a lot of questions about his past drug use.
Molfetta didn’t suggest Monday that Harvey had given Skaggs the drugs which led to his death. The defense team is trying to prove that Skaggs received opioids from many sources over the years. They also believe Skaggs might have obtained the July 2019 supply from someone other than Kay, who is being tried for Skaggs’ death.
Harvey’s revelations came on the most dramatic day of the trial. Chris Leanos, a friend of Skaggs, told the jury that he was a drug dealer.
Leanos was called by the government to testify, stating that he was not present in California the day before Skaggs’ death. This was to prove Leanos wasn’t a possible source of Skaggs drugs when he died. Leanos also said that he witnessed what looked like a drug transaction between Kay Skaggs and Skaggs at Disneyland’s team charity event. Skaggs then disappeared into a men’s room. Leanos stated that the transaction was “odd” and that he kept the door locked until Skaggs came out. He said that he believed Kay had given Skaggs drugs, and Skaggs had used them.
Leanos, however, left many landmines for prosecution.
Leanos, who claimed he sold MDMA, marijuana, cocaine and mushrooms for years, said that Skaggs sent him an SMS “a week or two” prior to the pitcher’s death asking for oxycodone. Leanos claimed that he refused the request, that he doesn’t sell opioids, and that he advised Skaggs not to use them due to the danger.
He stated that he had spoken to Skaggs family after Skaggs died and that he then deleted the text upon Skaggs request.
Molfetta questioned Leanos about how many times each drug had been sold to him since 2018. Molfetta then asked Leanos how many times he had sold each drug in his arsenal between 2018 and 2018. But, despite the fact that he answered the question, Molfetta stated, “That’s 240-250 drug transactions in the last three year, but you get a contract from the government saying you can sit down and confess to literally killing anyone” — which was rejected by the government. Leanos is not accused of murder.
Judge Terry R. Means however allowed the question.
Molfetta stated that Leanos could theoretically confess to murder on the witness stand and not be prosecuted. “And they wanted your to talk about the one transaction at Disneyland, the house of mice?”
“Yes,” Leanos said. “And that was because I was out of the town” when Skaggs went to Texas.
Skaggs requested that Leanos admit to bringing small amounts cocaine and MDMA to the 2018 bachelor party in Las Vegas.
Also available Monday
• A Southlake, Texas, police detective testified that when Kay was interviewed the day Skaggs died, he lied about both having been in Skaggs’ room and Skaggs’ history of drug use.
• The government introduced extensive evidence of Kay’s seeking opioids through the online marketplace app OfferUp, in which he repeatedly said he wanted to avoid anything with fentanyl.
• The government also established numerous Venmo payments from Skaggs and pitcher Garrett RichardsKay. Richards will testify in this week’s hearing.
• After the government established that Leanos could not have gotten from Arizona to Anaheim, California, in time to meet Skaggs before the team flight took off, the defense raised the possibility that Leanos had a window to meet him at Long Beach Airport, from which the team airplane departed. Leanos said he did not. Both a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent as well as a detective from the police said they didn’t investigate this possibility.
• A mystery from last week was cleared up. Rebecca Schoeny is a Angel Stadium catering manager and was the “Ben R” that sent Skaggs texts one day before his death. She had also sent Skaggs a selfie. She said that she never had an “inappropriate relationship” with Skaggs and did not know why Skaggs listed her as “Ben R”.
• Adam Chodzko, Kay’s assistant in 2019 and his replacement as communications director, testified that in the days after Skaggs’ death, an intoxicated Kay confessed that he had been with Skaggs the night he died. Chodzko stated that Kay had told him that Skaggs did not use the night before and that any drugs Skaggs had in his room at Kay’s arrival.
• Chodzko said that the next day, he told team president John Carpino what had happened and then took Kay to a rehabilitation facility.
• Based on the past week’s testimony, Harvey is expected to tell jurors that he did provide Skaggs with drugs on occasion, but not the ones that contributed to his death. Harvey was not able to make the Texas trip because he was on the injured list.
The day ended with an unexpected rebuke by the government. A cardiologist was the last witness to testify that Skaggs didn’t die of a heart problem. He was there for twenty minutes. Although no one suggested that Skaggs had died from a heart issue, prosecutors were concerned that jurors might be misled by Skaggs’ autopsy which indicated that Skaggs had thickening in the heart. Although it was perfectly normal for a professional athlete, the government didn’t want to take chances.
Means said to the prosecutors that he did not mean to be a smart aleck, but that he would bring another doctor tomorrow to prove he wasn’t dying from cancer. A nephrologist was then called to confirm that it wasn’t his kidneys. He warned them that if they don’t complete their allocated 20 hours, it wouldn’t be their fault and they wouldn’t be able to get more.