Skaggs was found dead in room No. 469 at the Southlake Town Square Hilton when the team was in town to start what was supposed to be a four-game series against the Texas Rangers.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner ruled Skaggs, 27, choked to death on his own vomit and had a mix of alcohol, ethanol, fentanyl and oxycodone in his system.
At the U.S. District Courthouse in Fort Worth, jury selection lasted two hours and was whittled down from 45 potential jurors to 15 people, 10 woman, 2 men and three alternates.
Later in the day with the jury in place, opening statements began.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas laid out their game plan.
Kay faces two counts:
1.) intent to distribute a controlled substance
2.) distribution resulting in death
Eric Kay trial (sketches by Dan Crowell)
The prosecution painted the picture of Skaggs who was married and faced pressures and expectation from being a professional baseball player.
They said Kay knew what happened to Skaggs at the time of his death.
The prosecution said they will show the autopsy report showing ethanol, fentanyl and oxycodone contributed to Skagg's death.
They will also bring in a expert showing how fentanyl is the substance that ultimately led to Skaggs' death and they said Kay is the one who provided the substance.
The prosecution also pointed out Kay had access to the players, given his job as a communications manager, and ultimately provided the blue 30 milligram oxycodone pills.
How he got the pills, according to the prosecution was Kay used a website called, OfferUp to get the drugs.
The prosecution claims Kay used a fake name, Ashley Smith to text the players and they listed several text message chats between Smith and Skaggs when discussing getting pills.
On July 1, 2019, Skaggs' last text message to his wife read "Miss you babe" at 12:02 a.m.
The defense laid out their messaging by stating Kay had a drug problem for most of his adult life.
They pointed out Kay had a father who was addicted to drugs and ultimately died and Kay suffered from depression for a while.
They said Kay never provided Skaggs drugs while they were in Texas.
They pushed back on that claim and said Skaggs had many different sources he got drugs from and they can't pin this on Kay.
The jury heard from one witness, current Dodgers player and former Angels starting pitcher Andrew Heaney.
Heaney said Skaggs was not only a teammate but a good friend at the time.
He said Skaggs liked to have fun, loved music and rooting on his favorite sports teams.
He claimed he didn't know Kay was involved in distributing drugs.
