LOS ANGELES — A man who pleaded guilty to distributing narcotics that led to the death of rapper Mac Miller has been sentenced to 17.5 years in prison.
Stephen Andrew Walter, who is about 50, had agreed to a plea agreement last year to serve 17 years. But U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II rejected it and added to the sentence, saying that Walter continued to distribute dangerous substances even after Miller's death.
In the plea agreement Walter struck with federal prosecutors last October, Walter pleaded guilty to one charge of distribution of fentanyl, reducing the charge from distribution of fentanyl resulting in death.
During the sentencing hearing Monday, Walter apologized to Miller's family. He claimed he was not aware that the narcotics he provided resulted in Miller's death until the time of his arrest in September 2019, according to Rolling Stone.
A distribution charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of 17 years to the judge in May when they submitted a memorandum asking him to consider Walter's age, health issues and long battle with addiction.
Walter was indicted in 2019 along with Ryan Reavis and Cameron Pettit for distributing Schedule II controlled substances, specifically fentanyl, which resulted in the death of the rapper, who was born Malcolm McCormick.
In April, Reavis was sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison for distributing fentanyl. Pettit is still awaiting trial after prosecutors recommended last October to postpone it.
According to the indictment, Walter provided pills containing fentanyl to Reavis and Pettit for distribution. Pettit sold cocaine, Xanax and 10 "blues" — counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl — to McCormick in 2018.
The Los Angeles County coroner's office ruled that a fatal mixture of fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol led to McCormick's death on Sept. 7, 2018.
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