One of the three men charged in the fentanyl overdose that killed rapper Mac Miller in 2018 has been sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison, authorities announced Monday.
Ryan Micheal Reavis, 39, pleaded guilty to distributing counterfeit oxycodone pills with fentanyl last year.
He was sentenced on Monday to 131 months in federal prison, a U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesperson told Los Angeles.
Reavis, who previously lived in West Los Angeles and moved to Lake Havasu, Arizona, admitted he knew the pills contained the powerful opioid fentanyl or some other controlled substance, according to his plea agreement, KTLA reports. He distributed the pills to Cameron James Pettit, 30, of West Hollywood in September 2018, who then sold the pills to Miller, officials said.
The 26-year-old rapper, whose legal name was Malcolm James McCormick, was found dead at his Studio City home on Sept. 7, 2018. He died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, along with cocaine and alcohol.
Reavis asked the court to give him just five years, saying he was unaware the pills had caused Miller’s death until he was arrested in Arizona a year later in September 2019, Rolling Stone reports.
In his statement, Reavis said, “This is not just a regular drug case. Somebody died, and a family is never going to get their son back. My family would be wrecked if it was me. They’d never be all right, never truly get over it. I think about that all the time. And I know that whatever happens today, I’m the lucky one because my family is here and I’m here and I’ll be with them again. I feel terrible. This is not who I am. My perspective has changed. My heart has changed.”
Before sentencing, prosecutors read a statement to the court from Miller’s mother, Karen Meyers. “My life went dark the moment Malcolm left his world,” she wrote. “Malcolm was my person, more than a son. We had a bond and kinship that was deep and special and irreplaceable. We spoke nearly every day about everything—his life, plans, music, dreams.”
Meyers added, “He would never knowingly take a pill with fentanyl, ever. He wanted to live and was excited about the future. The hole in my heart will always be there.”
She also remembered her son’s laugh as “infectious and bright” and said his music “spoke to many people all over the world.”
Stephen Andrew Walter, 48, admitted last October to supplying Reavis with the fentanyl that killed Miller, Rolling Stone reports. Walter accepted a plea deal carrying a 17-year prison sentence. The case against Pettit—the third drug dealer charged in Miller’s overdose—is still pending.
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