By Andrew Dalton | Related Press
LOS ANGELES — A health care provider who pleaded responsible to promoting ketamine to Matthew Perry was sentenced to 2½ years in jail on Wednesday at an emotional listening to over the “Friends” star’s overdose dying.
Choose Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence that included two years of probation and a $5,600 high quality to 44-year-old Dr. Salvador Plasencia in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles.
The decide emphasised that Plasencia didn’t present the ketamine that killed Perry, however instructed him, “You and others helped Mr. Perry on the road to such an ending by continuing to feed his ketamine addiction.”
“You exploited Mr. Perry’s addiction for your own profit,” she stated.
Plasencia was led from the courtroom in handcuffs as his mom cried within the viewers. He may need organized a date to give up, however his legal professionals stated he was ready to do it at this time.
Perry’s household describes their grief
Perry’s mom, stepmother and two half sisters gave tearful sufferer impression statements earlier than the sentencing.
“My brother’s death turned my world upside down,” sister Madeline Morrison stated, crying. “It punched a crater in my life. His absence is everywhere.”
She talked concerning the broad impact of dropping him.
“The world mourns my brother. He was everyone’s favorite friend,” Morrison stated, including “celebrities are not plastic dolls that you can take advantage of. They’re people. They’re human beings with families.”
Perry struggled with dependancy for years, courting again to his time on “Friends,” when he turned one of many greatest stars of his technology as Chandler Bing. He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC’s megahit.
Who’s answerable for Perry’s dying
Plasencia was the primary particular person sentenced of the 5 defendants who’ve pleaded responsible in reference to Perry’s dying at age 54 in 2023.
The physician admitted to benefiting from Perry, figuring out he was a struggling addict. Plasencia texted one other physician that Perry was a “moron” who might be exploited for cash, based on courtroom filings.
Dr. Salvador Plasencia leaves federal courtroom on Wednesday, July 23, 2025 in Los Angeles, after pleading responsible to giving ketamine to Matthew Perry, main as much as the actor’s 2023 overdose dying. On Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025, Plasencia was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail. (Damian Dovarganes/Related Press Archives)
Prosecutors had requested for 3 years in jail, whereas the protection sought only a day in jail plus probation.
Perry’s mom talked concerning the issues he overcame in life and the energy he confirmed.
“I used to think he couldn’t die,” Suzanne Perry stated as her husband, “Dateline” journalist Keith Morrison, stood on the podium along with her.
“You called him a ‘moron,’” she stated, addressing Plasencia. “There is nothing moronic about that man. He was even a successful drug addict.”
She spoke eloquently and apologized for rambling earlier than getting tearful on the finish, saying, “this was a bad thing you did!”
Plasencia apologizes to Perry’s household
Plasencia additionally spoke, moments after Suzanne Perry, breaking into tears as he imagined the day he must inform his now 2-year-old son “about the time I didn’t protect another mother’s son. It hurts me so much. I can’t believe I’m here.”
He apologized on to Perry’s household. “I should have protected him,” he stated.
Perry had been taking the surgical anesthetic ketamine legally as a therapy for despair. However when his common physician wouldn’t present it within the quantities he wished, he turned to Plasencia.
Plasencia’s legal professionals tried to present a sympathetic portrait of him as a person who rose out of poverty to change into a physician beloved by his sufferers.
His mom stood to talk after Perry’s mom had spoken, however the decide instructed her it wasn’t applicable for this listening to.
Plasencia pleaded responsible in July to 4 counts of distribution of ketamine. He didn’t plead to inflicting Perry’s dying, and the quantity he distributed was comparatively small on condition that he offered solely to Perry.
The decide stated she largely agreed with a probation report suggesting the suitable sentence was between eight and 14 months, however she went nicely past that.
“I think the judge was very well-reasoned,” Keith Morrison instructed reporters.
At the beginning of the listening to, she stated that household impression statements is probably not applicable as a result of legally, “there is no identifiable victim in this case. The victim is the public.”
However Perry’s legal professionals stated they didn’t object to members of the family talking.
A health care provider or a drug seller?
The protection sought to forged Plasencia as a physician treating a affected person who was overcome by recklessness and greed.
“It was a perfect storm of bad decision-making, everybody agrees,” legal professional Karen Goldstein stated, including “absolutely his judgment was clouded by money.”
Prosecutors stated he was by no means performing as a physician.
“He wasn’t a negligent or reckless medical provider,” Assistant U.S. Legal professional Ian Yanniello stated. “He was a drug dealer in a white coat.”
Garnett usually agreed, pushing again towards the protection argument that Perry was Plasencia’s affected person, and that the physician had recognized him in a telephone name that they had earlier than the gross sales started.
“Mr. Plasencia kept pushing it,” the decide stated. He actually was providing to promote ketamine.”
When one other protection legal professional, requested “Is your honor confused about how this all went down?” Garnett replied, sternly, “No I’m not.”
The opposite 4 defendants who reached offers to plead responsible might be sentenced at their very own hearings within the coming months. Garnett stated she would search to ensure all of the sentences made sense in relation to 1 one other.
