Tyler Skaggs prosecutors accuse Angels of failing to comply with subpoena

Six weeks before the trial of a former Angels employee begins in connection with the overdose death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs, federal prosecutors have charged the team with refusing to comply with a subpoena seeking information about members of the organization who potentially distribute drugs.

“Simply put, it’s hard to believe any claim that the Angels organization doesn’t have a single document, record, or report months after one of their pitchers overdosed and died on a team trip,” he says. the motion. “Months after [el exdirector de comunicaciones Eric] Kay confessed to another Angels employee that she was in the room [de Skaggs] late on June 30, 2019 and witnessed the [Skaggs] took drugs; and weeks after hearing the accusations of drug distribution by the organization’s employee (s) ”.

The motion, filed Monday in the United States District Court in Fort Worth, asks the court to order the team to produce documents related to “the distribution of drugs within the organization [de los Angels]”For next Monday.

In an emailed statement, Ariel Neuman, a former Bird Marella federal prosecutor representing the Angels, said: “We disagree with the government’s submission and will address this matter in court.” Through a spokeswoman, federal prosecutors declined to comment.

The Angels opposed the motion in a court filing Tuesday, saying the team has “produced thousands of pages of documents and a complete computer hard drive for the government in response to at least five subpoenas and requests for information” and “It facilitated the interviews of numerous of its employees.”

“In summary, Angels Baseball has always met and discussed in good faith, responded according to agreed deadlines (and often well in advance of those deadlines), and produced what was requested,” says the motion signed by another. team attorney, John Cayce. “The only documents Angels Baseball has refused to produce are those protected by attorney-client privilege and work product protections, including those related to its internal investigation arising out of the death. [de Skaggs]”.

Prosecutors subpoenaed the Angels in late July before Kay’s trial was scheduled to begin in mid-August on felony charges of conspiracy to “possess with intent to distribute and distribute” fentanyl since at least 2017 and having distributed the fentanyl that resulted in the death of Skaggs in a Southlake, Texas hotel room on July 1, 2019, before the Angels began a series with the Texas Rangers. The trial was later delayed to October 4. Kay has pleaded not guilty.

This subpoena sought: “Any document, record, report and information made, commissioned or obtained by Angels Baseball, LP regarding the distribution of drugs by any employee or contractor of Angels Baseball, LP or otherwise within the organization.”

The request takes on new relevance in light of last week’s court filing by prosecutors saying that “approximately” five Major League Baseball players would testify to receiving oxycodone from Kay between 2017 and 2019.

“Documents or information stored electronically in the possession of the Angels that dispute Kay’s record as an opioid abuser, Kay delivering drugs to members of the organization [de los Angels], included [Skaggs], and Kay’s actions in the days and weeks that followed [Skaggs] they are relevant, ”says the motion. “In the same way, documents or information stored electronically in the possession of the [Angels] speaking of people other than Kay illegally distributing drugs to players or other individuals in the organization is almost certainly relevant to Kay’s defense. “

The motion says the Angels requested in a letter a week later that the subpoena be withdrawn, claiming that the responding records were “protected by attorney-client privilege” and that prosecutors were searching for “all records” of the Internal investigation conducted by Neuman after Skaggs’ death.

“In fact, the Angels have taken the extreme position that every document that responds to the subpoena is protected by the work products doctrine,” the motion says. “The Angels have tried to wrap up in the doctrine of work products any document, report or record or communication made or obtained (even before and) after [Skaggs] he died, but before he hired an outside lawyer to prepare the litigation ”.

The Angels eventually released two statements and a privilege record – detailing the documents they failed to release due to attorney-client privilege – that the government described as “rickety” and “apparently incomplete.”

“For example, the record does not mention any discussion -about [Skaggs]- between the Angels and the Major League Baseball Commissioner, and.… the government has learned that the Angels and the Commissioner’s Office have communicated on this matter, ”the motion reads.

The motion added: “In a recent call with the government, the attorney for the Commissioner’s Office stated that her client would not respond to questions about the content of those communications unless forced to do so.”

The government argued in the motion that the Angels waived the attorney-client privilege for sensitive material, particularly in regards to the internal investigation, citing information shared with an outside communications strategist for the team and another person associated with the business interests of Angels owner Art Moreno.

The motion also pointed to the team’s press release in June, after the Skaggs family sued the Angels, which said the “investigation confirmed that the Organization did not know that Tyler was using opioids, nor was anyone in the administration aware. or informed that one of the employees provided opioids to a player ”. The Angels have not released further details of the inquiry.

“Here, the Angels used the findings and conclusions of the internal investigation as a weapon,” the motion said.

In response, the team’s court filing said that “it is indisputable that Angels Baseball conducted an internal investigation and that its communications with its attorneys, and the product of those attorneys’ work, are protected from disclosure” and requested a ” fair chance ”to respond.

The response questioned the timing of the government’s issuance of the subpoena, shortly before the August trial date, noting that prosecutors had been aware of the internal investigation since “at least February 2020.”

“While the Government may have problems filing Angels Baseball documents,” says the response, “the Government’s delay in issuing the subpoena does not justify denying Angels Baseball an adequate opportunity to contest it.”

To read this story in English, click here