Doctor Who Sold Ketamine to Matthew Perry Sentenced to 30 Months In Prison, Actor's Parents React

Emotions were high in a Los Angeles federal courtroom after US District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett sentenced Dr Salvador Plasencia to 30 months in prison for supplying ketamine to actor Matthew Perry in the weeks before his death. The ruling marked the first sentencing in a wider investigation into how the Friends star obtained the dissociative anaesthetic via an underground network within Hollywood.

The actor, 54, died on 28 October 2023 from the acute effects of ketamine, with contributing factors including drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine. He was found unresponsive in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home. The cause of death was ruled as an accident by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's office.

Plasencia, who once ran an urgent care clinic in Malibu, was among five people charged in the federal probe.

Emotional Day in Court

In a broadcast report from ABC World News, anchor David Muir described the events leading to the sentencing as 'emotional.' Perry's mother, Suzanne Morrison, confronted Plasencia directly in court.

Morrison recalled the text messages between her son and the doctor, presented as evidence in court, in which Plasencia referred to Perry as a 'moron' and asked the late actor how much he would be willing to pay for drugs.

Morrison told the court, 'There was nothing moronic about that man.' She reminded Plasencia of his oath to protect patients, saying her son deserved the same protection.

The doctor broke down in tears while apologising to Perry's loved ones, saying, 'I failed Mr Perry I failed Mr Perry — I failed him. I failed his family. There is no excuse. I'm just so sorry.'

Heartfelt Letter

Before the sentencing, Perry's mother and his stepfather, Keith Morrison, submitted a victim impact statement lodged in court on Tuesday. They described Plasencia and the other accused as 'jackals' who took advantage of the actor before his death.

According to the statement obtained by Mirror UK, 'I believe the man you are going to sentence today is among the most culpable of all. His crime, I find truly hard to understand. Here was a man who'd studied for years and years, poured sweat and tears, I imagine, into his quest to become a doctor. A long road with a narrow gate, to enter that esteemed profession. Why become a doctor?'

They accused Plasencia of betraying his Hippocratic Oath: 'But this doctor conspired to break his most important vows, repeatedly, sneaked through the night to meet his victim in secret. For what, a few thousand dollars? So he could feed on the vulnerability of our son...and crow, as he did so, with that revealing question: I wonder how much this moron will pay. Let's find out.'

The Morrisons expressed their pain after losing the actor. 'Here was a life so entwined with ours and held aloft sometimes with duct tape and bailing wire, with anything that might keep that big terrible thing from killing our first-born son, and our hearts with him. And then those greedy jackals come out of the dark, and all the effort is for naught; it all crashes down.'

Plasencia had already lost his medical license and his clinic before his sentencing.