A doctor who pleaded guilty to selling ketamine to Matthew Perry in the weeks before the Friends star’s overdose death was sentenced to two and a half years in prison on Wednesday.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence plus two years of probation to 44-year-old Dr. Salvador Plasencia in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles.
The judge emphasized that Plasencia didn’t provide the ketamine that killed Perry, but told him, “You and others helped Mr. Perry on the road to such an ending by continuing to feed his ketamine addiction.”
“You exploited Mr. Perry’s addiction for your own profit,” she said.
Plasencia was led from the courtroom in handcuffs as his mother cried loudly.
Perry’s mother and two half sisters gave tearful victim impact statements before the sentencing.
‘Everyone’s favorite friend’
“My brother’s death turned my world upside down,” Perry’s sister Madeline Morrison said while crying.”It punched a crater in my life. His absence is everywhere.”
She also talked about the broad effect of his loss.
“The world mourns my brother. He was everyone’s favourite friend,” Morrison said. “Celebrities are not plastic dolls that you can take advantage of. They’re people. They’re human beings with families.”
Perry’s mother talked about the things he overcame in life and the strength he showed.
“I used to think he couldn’t die,” Suzanne Perry said as her husband,Dateline journalist keith Morrison,stood at the podium with her.
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