Matthew Perry’s parents have condemned Dr Salvador Plasencia who was one of the five people convicted in connection to his ketamine overdose death.
They provided emotional victim impact statements ahead of Plasencia’s sentencing hearing on Wednesday following the Friends star’s death in October 2023.
Plasencia, 43, pleaded guilty in July to four counts of distribution of ketamine and could face a maximum of 40 years in federal prison.
He admitted he injected Perry with liquid ketamine in the weeks before his death, including once in a car parked outside an aquarium and admitted he sold Perry vials of the anesthetic for to use at home “without a legitimate medical purpose.”
Perry’s mother and stepfather, Suzanne and Keith Morrison, accused Plasencia of “feeding on the vulnerability” of their son and said he was “among the most culpable of all” for his death.
“How do you measure grief? Can you possibly provide any rational accounting? The bottom falling out? Yes, that,” they wrote in a letter to the court obtained by Rolling Stone.
They went on: “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.”
The pair called their pain a “deep well” and Suzanne said Perry’s addiction and the people he trusted got between her and her son.
“No one alive and in touch with the world at all could have been unaware of Matthew’s struggles. But this doctor conspired to break his most important vows, repeatedly, sneaked through the night to meet his victim in secret,” they wrote.
“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.’ Some things are very hard to understand.”
Perry’s father and stepmother, John and Debby Perry, added that Plasencia “didn’t deserve to hear” their feelings.
They called the late 17 Again star “a warm, loving man who was to be our rock as we aged. An uncle to our grandchildren and the mountain his siblings could turn to. Our next patriarch”.
“Matthew’s recovery counted on you saying NO. Your motives? I can’t imagine,” they said in direct reference to Plasencia.
“A doctor whose life is devoted to helping people? What ever were you thinking?
“How long did you possibly see supplying Matthew countless doses without his death to eventually follow? Did you care? Did you think?
“How many more people have you harmed that we don’t know about? We ask the court to give you plenty of time to think about your actions by extending your sentence beyond the mandatory time.”
Perry was found dead aged 54 in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023.
Plasencia was arrested last year alongside Jasveen Sangha, the woman described by prosecutors as the “Ketamine Queen” of North Hollywood.
Sangha pleaded guilty to her own charges in September and is set to be sentenced on December 10.
Perry’s live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, Dr Mark Chavez, and Erik Fleming - a man who allegedly acted as a go-between for Sangha in ketamine sales to Perry - have also been charged and agreed to plea deals in the case.
The actor “became addicted” to intravenous ketamine while seeking treatment for depression and anxiety at a local clinic in late 2023, according to authorities.
They said Perry turned to the suppliers charged in the case when the clinic refused to increase his dosage.
Plasencia and fellow physician Chavez distributed an estimated 20 vials of liquid ketamine to Perry for $55,000 cash during the last few weeks of the actor’s life, according to prosecutors.
They charged him $2,000 for a single vial that cost Chavez approximately $12, officials said.
“I wonder how much this moron will pay?…[Let’s] find out,” Plasencia allegedly texted Chavez in September 2023, according to court filings.
After sending the message, Plasencia injected Perry with ketamine at the actor’s house and left vials for his assistant to administer, the documents stated.
He later allegedly texted Chavez that the interaction was “like a bad movie”.
“Dr Plasencia is profoundly remorseful for the treatment decisions he made while providing ketamine to Matthew Perry. He is fully accepting responsibility by pleading guilty to drug distribution,” the doctor’s lawyer, Karen L. Goldstein previously said in a statement.
“Dr Plasencia intends to voluntarily surrender his medical license, acknowledging his failure to protect Mr Perry, a patient who was especially vulnerable due to addiction.
“While Dr Plasencia was not treating Mr Perry at the time of his death, he hopes his case serves as a warning to other medical professionals and leads to stricter oversight and clear protocols for the rapidly growing at-home ketamine industry in order to prevent future tragedies like this one.”
Chavez is due to be sentenced on December 17 and Fleming has his sentencing scheduled for January 7. Iwamasa will be sentenced on January 14.
