One of the three men charged with selling Mac Miller the drugs that allegedly led to his death has been released from prison, TMZ reports.
Cameron James Pettit was released from Federal Correctional Institution Mendota, California, on October 11, according to a rep for the Bureau of Prisons. Pettit, 33, and two others were arrested in September 2019, nearly one year after Miller’s death at age 26. The Los Angeles County Coroner determined that the rapper died of an accidental drug overdose from a “mixed drug toxicity” of fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol.
Pettit was charged with conspiring to distribute controlled substances resulting in death. His codefendants, Stephen Walter and Ryan Reavis, faced the same charge. The trio allegedly sold Miller counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl.
Walter and Reavis were sentenced to 17 and 11 years in prison, respectively. The status of Pettit’s case remains unknown, but TMZ reports he pleaded not guilty in 2019.
Prosecutors alleged that Walter supplied the pills to Reavis, who then gave them to Pettit, unaware that Pettit intended to sell them.
“According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Pettit and others distributed narcotics to 26-year-old Malcolm James McCormick — who recorded and performed under the name Mac Miller — approximately two days before McCormick suffered a fatal drug overdose in Studio City on September 7, 2018,” read a 2018 press release from the DEA. “The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner later determined that McCormick died of mixed drug toxicity involving fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol.”
The press release also noted that hours after news of Miller’s death broke, Pettit texted a friend saying, “Most likely I will die in jail.”
News of Pettit’s release comes one day after Miller’s estate announced the rapper’s posthumous album Balloonerism will be released on January 17, 2025.
“Many of Malcolm’s fans are aware of Balloonerism, a full-length album that Malcolm created around the time of the release of Faces in 2014,” his family said in a statement. “It is a project that was of great importance to Malcolm — to the extent that he commissioned artwork for it and discussions concerning when it should be released were had regularly, though ultimately GO:OD AM and subsequent albums ended up taking precedence.”
The statement continued, “We believe the project showcases both the breadth of his musical talents and fearlessness as an artist. Given that unofficial versions of the album have circulated online for years and that releasing Balloonerism was something that Malcolm frequently expressed being important to him, we felt it most appropriate to present an official version of the project to the world.”
Balloonerism will be the second posthumous album from Miller. He was working on his sixth studio album, Circles, at the time of his death. His family announced the album on January 8, 2020, and released it later that month.
