Fentanyl perhaps not the exclusive cause of Angels player’s death, pathologist testifies
A former Tarrant County deputy chief medical examiner who performed the autopsy of Tyler Skaggs testified on Thursday that the Los Angeles Angels pitcher’s death was the result of a mixture of three substances that caused him to aspirate, but stopped short of concluding definitively that Skaggs would have survived had he not ingested fentanyl.
Had Skaggs consumed only alcohol and oxycodone, the other elements of his mixed intoxication, there was “reduced probability” that he would have died, but it “can’t be eliminated,” Dr. Marc Krouse testified on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Fort Worth.
The distinction is critical as former Angels press relations employee Eric Kay is on trial on indictments on conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death and serious bodily injury.
In her opening statement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsey Beran told jurors that they would hear evidence that Skaggs would not have died but for ingesting fentanyl.
The somewhat nebulous assessment of the cause of Skaggs’ death was drawn from Krouse by Kay defense attorney Reagan Wynn on cross examination.
Skaggs’ gastric content filled his lungs, and an Angels security guard found his body on a bed in a hotel in Southlake on July 1, 2019. Skaggs and his teammates were at the hotel because the team was to play the Texas Rangers that day.
As a shoulder-and-above photograph of her son’s body was displayed on monitors on the third day of trial, Skaggs’ mother left the courtroom.
The cause of death assessment came from Krouse, but the physician noted that the conclusion was reviewed by a critical case review panel of other forensic pathologists in the office that, Krouse testified, agreed with the autopsy report’s finding.
Jurors heard generally of errors that led in April to the expiration without renewal of Krouse’s Tarrant County employment contract, but they did not learn of deeper information about allegations that Krouse committed professional blunders.
The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office was appointed to look at some of Krouse’s cases.
The death that began a review involved the killing of 19-year-old Alfredo Olivares, whose body was exhumed because Krouse missed a bullet during the autopsy.
A second autopsy revealed several “major and minor” problems with the first, according to a summary of an audit of Krouse’s cases.
In total, 41 of Krouse’s autopsies were examined, and about 50 mistakes were found in 27 of them, according to court documents.
In most cases, the mistakes did not change the assignment of the cause or the manner of death.
Prosecutors allege that Kay provided Skaggs, 27, with a fentanyl-laced oxycodone that they say killed him.
The trial will continue Friday and next week. U.S. District Judge Terry Means is allowing 20 hours of evidence presentation from prosecutors and 15 hours from the defense.
Kay, who has pleaded not guilty, rejected a plea offer in the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsey Beran told Means at a pretrial conference. She did not describe the terms of the offer.
Kay was charged in July 2020. He is 47 and lives in Orange, California.
Inside of Skaggs’ hotel room, law enforcement authorities found pills, including one with the marking M/30. The pill, which resembled a 30-milligram oxycodone tablet, was tested, and it had been laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opiate, according to an affidavit written by DEA agent Geoffrey Lindenberg that was filed with the expectation that it would support the criminal complaint in the case.
This story was originally published February 11, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
