One of the three men charged with Mac Miller’s fatal overdose has decided to plead guilty and accept a 17-year prison sentence for supplying the fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills he sold to the rapper just before his death in 2018.
According to the terms of the deal, prosecutors are waiving Stephen Andrew Walter’s grand jury indictment and allowing him to plead to a single new charge of fentanyl distribution.
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Previously, he was indicted on more serious charges including fentanyl distribution resulting in death and conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance resulting in death of Miller.
“The new charge takes out the death allegation,” Walter’s lawyer William S. Harris tells Rolling Stone. “It’s a binding plea agreement for 17 years [in prison]. The judge will either accept or reject it. If he accepts it, there will be no power to sentence my client to more. If he rejects it, there’s no deal.”
“I am pleading guilty because I am guilty of the charge and wish to take advantage of the promises set forth in this agreement,” Walter said in a written statement attached to the agreement filed in federal court in Los Angeles.
One of his co-defendants in the case, Cameron James Pettit, also reached a plea agreement that has been sealed, while the third co-defendant, Ryan Michael Reavis, is heading to a trial set for March 1.
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In his new deal, Walter confirms he “knowingly” directed Reavis to deliver fentanyl in the form of counterfeit oxycodone pills to Pettit on Sept. 4, 2018. According to the paperwork, Pettit distributed the pills to Miller.
Miller, whose legal name was Malcolm James McCormick, was just 26 years old when he died at his home in Los Angeles on Sept. 7, 2018, from a combination of fentanyl, cocaine, and alcohol per the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner and Coroner.
Miller, who openly spoke about his battle with addiction, was last seen alive by his assistant around 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 6, 2018. The assistant was the one who found him unresponsive the next morning when he went to check on him.
According to the indictment, Pettit had agreed on Sept. 4 to supply McCormick with 10 oxycodone pills called “blues” as well as cocaine and the sedative Xanax. When he made the delivery on Sept. 5, Pettit allegedly gave McCormick the counterfeit oxycodone pills that contained fentanyl instead.
Investigators have previously shared how they believe McCormick died after snorting the counterfeit pills.
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