Matthew Perry’s assistant is last to be sentenced over his ketamine death
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Final sentence in 2 1/2-year investigation and prosecution following drug-related death Matthew Perry Sitting at the center of the entire event will be the personal assistant who purchases the ketamine that will cause the incident. Death of “Friends” star and I inject him with the lethal dose.
Kenneth IwamasaJudge Sherilyn Peace Garnett, 60, is expected to be sentenced Wednesday in a Los Angeles federal courtroom. four of the other defendants last year.
He was the first of them to reach a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death. On Wednesday, he will appear in court for the first time since the case became public.
Iwamasa became the prosecution’s most important witness. They ask Garnett to sentence him to three years and five months in prison; That’s significantly less than the sentence he would have faced had he not cooperated, but still more than all but one of the other defendants.
Iwamasa’s lawyers said in their lawsuit that he was an employee following his employer’s orders and that he had a “particular vulnerability” in his relationship with Perry. “In short, ‘he simply couldn’t say no.’ “This incompetence had tragic consequences.”
Perry’s family members, some of whom may speak in court, made clear in their letters to the judge that they had no one more to blame for her death than Iwamasa; A long-time friend who they thought would help the actor get sober, they instead gave in to the worst impulses of a lifelong addict.
“Mathew trusted Kenny. We trusted Kenny. Kenny’s most important job ever was to be my son’s friend and protector in his battle with addiction,” Perry’s mother, Suzanne Morrison, wrote. “We trusted a man with no conscience, and my son paid the price.”
Perry hired Iwamasa in 2022, paying him $150,000 a year to live at his home in Los Angeles and act as his assistant.
The actor was legally taking the surgical anesthetic ketamine for depression, an increasingly common off-label use. But he wanted more than what his doctor would give him.
According to Iwamasa’s plea agreement, he purchased ketamine off the record from another doctor, Salvador Plasencia, who taught him how to inject it. Plasencia was sentenced He was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison in July.
Iwamasa also started taking ketamine from Perry’s acquaintance Erik FlemingHe was buying it from a street vendor. Fleming was sentenced He was sentenced to two years in prison two weeks ago.
Seller Jasveen Sangha, The ‘Queen of Ketamine’ was sentenced To 15 years on April 8.
In the final days of Perry’s life, Iwamasa was giving him injections six to eight times a day. On October 23, 2023, he shot the 54-year-old actor with a high dose and left to run errands. He returned to find Perry dead in the hot tub. The LA County Medical Examiner found: ketamine what was it primary cause of death. Drowning was a secondary cause.
At first, Iwamasa lied to the police, removing ketamine from the list of drugs Perry was taking and saying nothing about his injections. But he began confessing when investigators obtained a search warrant in January 2024.
Perry became one of the biggest stars of her generation, alongside Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow. “Friends,” NBC’s mega-hit comedy series that aired from 1994 to 2004.
