Salvador Plasencia, the former doctor who supplied the lethal dose of ketamine to Friends actor Matthew Perry in the weeks before his 2023 overdose, was sentenced on Wednesday, December 3, to 30 months in federal prison. Plasencia had pleaded guilty to four counts of distributing ketamine to the late actor before his death.
Perry died of acute effects of ketamine at age 54. He was found unresponsive in a jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023.
Before the sentence was read, Plasencia apologized to Perry’s family in court, The Independent reports. “I failed to protect a mother’s son. I failed Mr. Perry. I failed his family,” he said. “I should have protected him.”
Following his conviction, Plasencia gave up his medical license, according to ABC News.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence, plus two years of probation, to Plasencia in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles. Garrett rejected Plasencia’s initial defense argument that the doctor was using the drug to treat Perry’s depression.
In court, Plasencia admitted to taking advantage of Perry due to his addiction. Text messages to another doctor revealed that Plasencia referred to Perry as a “moron” who could be exploited for money, according to court filings (via the AP).
Prosecutors stated: “Indeed, the day defendant met Perry, he made his profit motive known, telling a co-conspirator: ‘I wonder how much this moron will pay’ and ‘let’s find out.'”
Plasencia’s attorneys stated that Plasencia had recklessly treated Perry “without adequate knowledge of ketamine therapy and without a full understanding of his patient’s addiction,” and that his actions were “the biggest mistake of his life,” as reported by ABC News.
The charges carried a maximum of 40 years in prison, though prosecutors had asked for a sentence of three years.
The four individuals who are also charged in the case, including another doctor, Perry’s assistant, who had administered the drugs, and the two people who supplied the ketamine dose that killed Perry, have also pleaded guilty and are set to be sentenced in the upcoming months, according to ABC News.
In a victim impact statement (via Sky News) addressed to Plasencia, Perry’s father and stepmother, John and Debbie Perry, said, “You don’t deserve to hear our feelings. How you devastated our family, contributing to the loss of Matthew, our only son. A warm, loving man who was to be our rock as we aged. An uncle to our grandchildren and the mountain his siblings could turn to.”
They said Perry’s recovery counted on “you saying NO.”
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