This week, a federal judge has officially sentenced Stephen Walter to 210 months (17.5 yearS) in prison for his role in supplying the fentanyl-laced pills that contributed to the death of rapper Mac Miller in 2018.
Walter pleaded guilty last fall to a federal criminal charge of the distribution of fentanyl. This charge usually has a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, but Wlter had reached a deal with federal prosecutors to serve 17.
The judge, however, rejected the deal.
“I may as well lay it out, OK,” Wright reportedly said in the courtroom. “When you continue to engage in this activity even after your activities killed someone, I’m having a tough time not staying within the guidelines.”
Walter, who is one of three people charged in connection with the rapper’s death, agreed to the higher sentence as well as apologized to Miller’s family while addressing the court.
“My actions caused a lot of pain, and for that I’m truly remorseful,” Walter said, also explaining that he did not learn of Miller’s death until after his arrest. “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.”
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