49-year-old Stephen Walter, one of the men who sold Mac Miller the pills that caused the rapper’s fatal overdose in 2019, has been sentenced to 17 and a half years in prison after he pled guilty last year to the distribution of fentanyl.
He was handed the sentence by U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright, II, on Monday May 16.
Prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence Walter to 204 months in prison since he initially took the plea deal.
However, since Walter was still dealing even after he took that plea in 2021, the judge gave him the extra six months at the sentencing.
According to Rolling Stone, Walter addressed the court on Monday in Los Angeles, saying he was “truly remorseful” for his actions. He said;
“I’m not that type of person who wants to hurt anybody. That’s not me. But on the paperwork where it says that I continued to conduct in that kind of behavior after I knew that there was death, that’s not the truth, your honor.”
He went on to claim that he only directed Ryan Michael Reavis to deliver the pills to Cameron Pettit, whose case is still ongoing and believed Pettit was going to ingest the pills.
Walter added;
“I’m still taking responsibility for everything that happened, but he never told me it was for another person.
“He was experienced is using those pills. I thought it was for him — for personal use. And then he delivered them to McCormick with cocaine and Xanax, or whatever. I was not willing to do that and had no intent to do anything else other than [sell to] Cameron Pettit. And then two days later, when there was an overdose, Cameron never called me and told me about it, that he had anything to do with him. So I had no idea that somebody had passed. If I would have known, I would not have continued that type of behavior.”
Walter is one of three people charged in the death of Miller, born Malcolm James McCormick, who passed away on Sept. 7, 2018 at age 26.
The star was found unconscious inside his Studio City, California home by his personal assistant. When paramedics arrived, they pronounced Miller dead at the scene.
Last month, Reavis was sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison for his role in Miller’s death. Prior to his sentencing, an emotional statement was read out in court from Miller’s mother, Karen Meyers.
It read;
“My life went dark the moment Malcolm left this world. 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.
“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.”