Suspect in rapper Mac Miller’s drug death pleads not guilty
A man charged with selling rapper Mac Miller the drugs that killed him last year pleaded not guilty Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles.
Cameron Pettit stood alongside his attorney and spoke only to answer a judge’s questions as he entered the plea.
Prosecutors allege that Pettit, 28, of West Hollywood, sold Miller cocaine and pills that contained the powerful opioid fentanyl two days before the 26-year-old rapper died of an accidental overdose in September 2018.
Pettit has been in custody since Sept. 4. He is one of three men charged in connection with Miller’s death; each faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and the potential for life without parole if convicted.
His attorney John D. Robertson declined comment outside court.
Rapper and producer Mac Miller was found dead inside his Studio City home on Friday. He was 26.
Citing Instagram messages sent shortly after Miller’s death in which Pettit talks with a friend about disappearing or leaving the country, a judge has kept him in custody since his arrest, calling him a flight risk.
Two other men, Stephen Walter, 46, of Los Angeles and Ryan Reavis, 36, of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., have also been arrested in the case and indicted on similar charges. They have not entered pleas, and it was not clear when they would be arraigned.
The indictment alleged that Walter supplied the fentanyl and cocaine that Pettit sold to Miller and that Reavis, who lived in the Los Angeles area until earlier this year, acted as a middleman for the fentanyl sale.
Pettit on Sept. 5, 2018, sold Miller cocaine, Xanax and 10 blue pills — which appeared to be oxycodone but contained fentanyl — after the two had exchanged text messages a day earlier, according to his indictment.
Miller’s assistant found the rapper unresponsive two days later in his Los Angeles home, and he was declared dead soon after.
Miller’s rhymes made him a beloved and respected figure among fans, including some of the biggest names in hip-hop.
The Pittsburgh native, whose real name was Malcolm James Myers McCormick, spent two years in a relationship with Ariana Grande before they broke up in May 2018. After his death, she paid loving tribute to him on social media and in a song.
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