On Wednesday, a physician entered a guilty plea to administering ketamine to Matthew Perry during the month preceding the Friends star’s overdose death.
Of the five individuals charged with Perry’s killing, Dr. Salvador Plasencia was the fourth to enter a guilty plea. In federal court in Los Angeles, he stood beside his attorney and confessed to four counts before Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett.
According to the signed paperwork filed in federal court in Los Angeles, the doctor agreed last month to enter a guilty plea to four counts of ketamine distribution, preventing Plasencia, 43, from going to trial in August.
He only talked to respond to the judge’s inquiries. Plasencia responded, “They’ve considered everything,” when asked if his attorneys had taken into account every potential plea and sentence scenario in the case.
In an emailed statement following the court, the doctor’s lawyer, Debra White, stated that Dr. Plasencia is very sorry for the treatment choices he made when giving Matthew Perry ketamine. By entering a guilty plea to narcotics distribution, he is assuming full responsibility. In recognition of his failure to protect Mr. Perry, a patient who was particularly vulnerable because of his addiction, Dr. Plasencia plans to voluntarily revoke his medical license.
Plasencia had previously entered a not guilty plea, but prosecutors agreed to dismiss two counts of fabricating records and three more counts of distributing ketamine in return for the guilty admissions.
He did not sell Perry the dose that killed the actor, according to the prosecutors, who laid out the charges in court before to the plea.
Plasencia acknowledged that when the doctor gave Perry a single injection, he froze and his blood pressure shot up, but she left additional ketamine for Perry’s aide to administer.
Perry was solely referred to as victim MP in court.
Plasencia is likely to receive a term of at least 40 years in prison, but there is no assurance that he will receive a lesser amount. Since his arrest in August, he has been free on bond, and he will be permitted to be free until his sentence on December 3.
AUTOPSIS INDICATES ‘Acute effects of ketamine’ as the cause of death for Matthew Perry
Without addressing the press waiting outside, Plasencia and his attorneys departed the courthouse.
His attorney stated in a statement that “even though Dr. Plasencia was not treating Mr. Perry at the time of his death,” he hopes that his case will serve as a warning to other medical professionals and result in more stringent oversight and clear protocols for the rapidly expanding at-home ketamine industry in order to avert similar tragedies in the future.
Jasveen Sangha, who authorities claim is a drug dealer known as the Ketamine Queen who supplied Perry the fatal dose, is the only defendant still pending an agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Next month is when her trial is expected to start. She entered a not guilty plea.
Prosecutors and co-defendants who made their own agreements claim that Plasencia began illegally supplying Perry with a significant quantity of ketamine approximately one month prior to his death on October 28, 2023.
A co-defendant claims that Plasencia labeled the actor a fool in a text message who could be taken advantage of for financial gain.
In order to help the government present its case against Plasencia and Sangha, the authorities persuaded Perry’s personal assistant, his friend, and another physician to enter a guilty plea last year. As of yet, none have received sentences.
Kenneth Iwamasa, the assistant, discovered Perry dead. Ketamine, which is commonly used as a surgical anesthetic, was determined by the medical examiner to be the main cause of death.
Through his usual physician, the actor had been taking the medication as a legitimate but off-label treatment for depression, a condition that is becoming more and more prevalent. The 54-year-old Perry started looking for more ketamine than his physician would provide.
In his plea deal, Plasencia acknowledged that he had met Perry through another patient and that, beginning around a month prior to Perry’s passing, he had unlawfully given the actor 20 vials of ketamine, totaling 100 mg of the drug, as well as ketamine lozenges and syringes.
According to the court documents, he acknowledged that he had recruited Mark Chavez, another physician, to provide him with the medication.
According to Chavez’s plea deal, Plasencia texted him, “I wonder how much this moron will pay.”
Prosecutors claimed that Plasencia asked Chavez if he could continue to supply the pills after selling them to Perry for $4,500, thereby becoming Perry’s go-to source.
From his days as Chandler Bing on Friends, when he rose to prominence as one of the biggest stars of his generation, Perry battled addiction for years. From 1994 to 2004, he costarred on NBC’s megahit for ten seasons with Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer.
