Former Los Angeles Angels media relations executive Eric Kay is asking a federal court to vacate his conviction and grant a new trial, arguing that his trial counsel was ineffective and that evidence used to convict him was unreliable.
Kay, 52, is currently serving a 22-year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Englewood, Colorado, with a scheduled release date of February 18, 2041. In a 75-page appeal filed in Texas federal court, Kay’s legal team contends that his former trial attorney, Michael Molfetta, pressured him to reject a government plea offer that carried a sentence of five to 10 years.
The filing also challenges the integrity of key evidence from the 2022 criminal trial, specifically questioning testimony regarding the extraction of data from pitcher Tyler Skaggs’ mobile phone. Skaggs died from an overdose on July 1, 2019, after ingesting a counterfeit oxycodone pill containing fentanyl shortly after the Angels arrived in Texas for a series against the Rangers.
Kay’s current federal public defenders, led by Jason D. Hawkins, argue that detective Delaney Green provided inaccurate testimony when she stated she pulled data from Skaggs’ phone, noting that another detective with the Southlake Police Department actually performed the extraction. The appeal highlights that the phone continued to receive text messages, calls, and network-connected content for more than two weeks after Skaggs’ death while in police custody, raising concerns that data could have been altered or deleted. Furthermore, defense filings state that when Kay sought the raw data closest to the time of death, he was informed that the police department no longer possessed the external hard drive containing the records.
The new legal challenge also targets the established cause of death. The appeal asserts that traditional autopsy methods could not definitively identify any specific substance as the but-for cause of death, noting that toxicology reports showed Skaggs had alcohol, oxycodone, and oxymorphone in his system alongside fentanyl.
Three years ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied an earlier appeal by Kay of his two felony convictions, ruling that a reasonable jury could conclude Kay obtained the pills in California, transported them to Texas, and provided them to Skaggs.
Previously, the Angels had funded Kay’s defense while preparing for a separate civil wrongful-death lawsuit brought by Skaggs’ parents. However, the team ceased funding after that lawsuit was resolved through an undisclosed monetary settlement during jury deliberations in December 2025. Federal prosecutors face a December 31 deadline to respond to the latest appeal.
