“You're the monster that killed him” / “I'll take this with me to the grave.” The latest conviction in the case of the death of the star of “Friends”
The personal assistant who administered a lethal dose of ketamine, a hallucinogenic drug, to the star of the “Friends” series, Matthew Perry, was sentenced on Wednesday to 41 months in prison in a federal penitentiary, a decision that thus ended the trial in which five people who admitted to having a role in the actor's death were tried, reports Reuters.
Judge Sherilyn Garnett handed down the sentence for Kenneth Iwamasa, the person who found Perry floating face down and breathless in a hot tub at his Los Angeles residence in October 2023. Federal prosecutors alleged that Iwamasa injected Perry with ketamine at the actor's request before leaving the residence to run errands. Perry was dead when Iwamasa returned.
“I'm so sorry for all of you,” Iwamasa said in the courtroom, turning to face Matthew Perry's family. “I am so sorry that I have committed illegal acts that I will regret forever. I will take that with me to my grave.”
“You kept injecting more”
Keith Morrison, Perry's stepfather, was the only family member to speak in court.
“You just kept injecting them more,” Morrison said, looking directly at Iwamasa. “You could have called someone.”
The autopsy report concluded that Matthew Perry died from the “acute effects of ketamine,” which, combined with other factors, caused him to lose consciousness and drown.
Ketamine, a short-acting but powerful anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties, is sometimes prescribed to treat depression and other psychological disorders, but has gained popularity as an illicit party drug.
“The Monster That Killed You”
Kenneth Iwamasa pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death. As part of a plea deal, he admitted to repeatedly injecting Perry with ketamine without medical training, including the lethal dose.
As part of the deal with prosecutors, Iwamasa provided key evidence against other defendants. His sentence includes two years of supervised release and a $10,000 fine.
“You wanted control, control over Matthew and everything he owned,” Lisa Ferguson, Perry's business manager and executor, told the court. “You are the monster that killed him.”
Prosecutors had asked for at least 41 months in federal prison for Iwamasa, who met Perry in 1992 and has been his assistant since 2022, living in the same residence as the actor. In court documents filed before the sentencing, prosecutors called him Perry's “facilitator and supplier of drugs.”
Iwamasa repeatedly injected Perry with ketamine throughout October 2023 and on at least two occasions found him unconscious but continued to administer the drug, investigators said. On another occasion, he saw Perry “freeze” and lose the ability to speak after receiving an injection of ketamine from a doctor.
“Your conduct was reckless, not only on the day of his death, but in the days leading up to it,” Garnett told Iwamasa.
Before he died at age 54, Perry had admitted to substance abuse for decades, a period that coincided with the height of his fame when he played the sardonic but charming Chandler Bing on NBC's hit 1990s sitcom Friends.
Two doctors, a drug dealer and a middleman who helped procure the ketamine were previously convicted in the trial.
Jasveen Sangha, a trafficker dubbed the “Queen of Ketamine,” received the longest sentence of 15 years in prison.
