After pleading guilty to giving Matthew Perry ketamine, which led to the actor’s 2023 overdose death, Dr. Salvador Plasencia left federal court in Los Angeles with his lawyers on July 23, 2025. , Photo Credit: AP
A doctor who pleaded guilty to selling ketamine to Matthew Perry just weeks before the “Friends” star died of an overdose will be the first of five people sentenced in the case on Wednesday (Dec. 3, 2025).
Perry’s family and possibly others affected by his death will have the opportunity to testify in federal court in Los Angeles before Dr. Salvador Plasencia’s sentencing.
Prosecutors are asking U.S. District Judge Sharleen Peace Garnett to sentence Dr. Placenia, 44, to three years in prison following a plea agreement where the doctor admitted illegally selling large quantities of ketamine to Perry. He was not accused of selling the doses to the actor who investigators say died on October 28, 2023.
Perry was taking the legal surgical anesthetic ketamine to treat depression. But when his regular doctor could not provide him with it in the quantities he desired, he turned to Dr. Plasencia, who admitted to illegally selling Perry the drug despite knowing that he was struggling with addiction. According to court filings, he messaged another doctor that Perry was an “idiot” who could be exploited for money.
“Instead of doing what was best for Mr. Perry – a man who struggled with addiction for most of his life – the defendant tried to exploit Perry’s medical vulnerability for profit,” the prosecution’s sentencing memorandum said.
Dr. Plasencia’s lawyers tried to present a sympathetic portrait of him in their memorandum, as a man who rose from poverty to become a beloved doctor of his patients, some of whom provided testimonials about him for the court.
Lawyers described Perry’s sale as “reckless” and “the biggest mistake of his life”.
“Repentance cannot express the pain, regret and shame that Mr. Placencia feels for the tragedy that unfolded and which he failed to prevent,” the memo said.
But, the lawyers wrote, “A prison sentence is neither necessary nor appropriate. He has already lost his medical license, his clinic, and his career. He has also been viciously attacked in the media and threatened by strangers to the extent that his family has moved out of the state for their safety.”
Dr. Plasencia’s lawyers said he has moved to Arizona with his wife and 2-year-old son, for whom he is a loving caregiver.
“I want her to be proud of her father,” Dr. Plasencia said in a video he and his lawyers made for the judge. “I made mistakes, but I want her to know that I tried to make better choices after my mistakes.”
Dr. Plasencia pleaded guilty in July to four counts of distribution of ketamine. Prosecutors agreed to drop five separate cases. The deal came with no guarantee of a sentence, and under the law, Garnett could have faced up to 40 years in prison.
Perry’s mother Suzanne Perry and her stepfather, “Dateline” journalist Keith Morrison, attended the previous hearing. They may have been among those given the opportunity to speak before Dr. Plasencia was sentenced.
The other four defendants who reached agreements to plead guilty will be sentenced at their hearings in the coming months.
Perry struggled with addiction for years, dating back to his time on “Friends,” when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing. She starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer in the NBC megahit for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004.
published – December 03, 2025 01:04 PM IST