Doctor who pleaded guilty to selling ketamine Matthew Perry Weeks before the “Friends” star died of an overdose on Wednesday, she was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence plus two years probation to Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 44, in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles.
The judge emphasized that Plasencia did not supply the ketamine that killed Perry, but told him: “You and others helped Mr. Perry get to this end by continuing to fuel his ketamine addiction.”
“You took advantage of Mr. Perry's addiction for your own gain,” she said.
Plasencia was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs as his mother cried loudly in the courtroom. He could agree on a surrender date, but his lawyers said he was willing to do it today.
Perry's mother and two half-sisters gave tearful victim impact statements before the sentencing.
“The world is mourning my brother,” Madeleine Morrison said. “He was everyone's favorite friend.”
“My brother’s death turned my world upside down,” Morrison said, crying. “It made a crater in my life. His absence is everywhere.”
Plasencia was the first to be sentenced among five defendants who pleaded guilty in Perry's death at age 54 in 2023.
The doctor admitted that he used Perry's services knowing that he suffered from drug addiction. According to court documents, Plascencia wrote to another doctor saying Perry was an “idiot” who could be exploited for money.
Get the latest national news
To stay on top of news affecting Canada and the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you as they happen.
Prosecutors asked for three years in prison, but the defense asked for just one day in prison plus probation.
Perry's mother spoke about what he has overcome in life and the strength he has shown.
“I used to think he couldn't die,” Suzanne Perry said as her husband, Dateline journalist Keith Morrison, stood at the podium with her.
“You called him an 'idiot,'” she said. “There is nothing idiotic about this man. He was even a successful drug addict.”
She spoke eloquently and apologized for rambling, and at the end she burst into tears, saying, “You did a bad thing!” how she cried.
Plasencia also spoke before the sentencing, breaking down in tears as he imagined the day he would have to tell 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 directly to Perry's family. “I had to protect him,” he said.
Perry legally took the surgical anesthetic ketamine to treat depression. But when his regular doctor didn't provide it in the quantities he wanted, he turned to Placencia, who admitted to illegally selling Perry and knowing he had a drug addiction.
Plasencia's lawyers have tried to paint a sympathetic portrait of him as a man who rose from poverty to become a doctor beloved by his patients, some of whom provided evidence about him to the court.
His lawyers called his sale to Perry “reckless” and “the biggest mistake of his life.”
Plasencia pleaded guilty in July to four counts of distribution of ketamine. Prosecutors agreed to drop five different charges. The agreement was made without any guarantees of sentencing, and under the law Garnett could be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison.
The remaining four defendants who reached plea agreements will be sentenced at their own hearings in the coming months.
Perry died aged 54 in 2023 after a years-long battle with addiction, dating back to his time on Friends, when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation 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 the NBC megahit.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
