Matthew Perry died due to overdose of ketamine, doctor admitted; may be sentenced to 40 years
Matthew Perry: American-Canadian actor Matthew Perry died in October 2023. His post-mortem report revealed that he died due to an overdose of a drug called ketamine. Five people are accused in this case. A doctor admitted his crime on Wednesday.
One doctor has confessed his error in the death of veteran actor Matthew Perry due to ketamine drug overdose. Dr. Salvador Plasencia on Wednesday confessed that he administered ketamine to the actor a month before his death. Plasencia can be sentenced to 40 years for this offense.
Dr. Salvador Plasencia is the fourth of the five individuals charged in relation to actor Matthew Perry's death, who pleaded guilty. At his lawyer's side in the Los Angeles federal court, he entered a plea of guilty in four cases to Judge Sherrilyn Peace Garnett.
According to a signed document filed in federal court in Los Angeles, Plasencia, 43, was scheduled to be tried in August, but last month the doctor agreed to plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine. He spoke only to answer questions from the judge. When asked if his lawyers had considered all the possibilities of plea and sentencing in the case, Plasencia replied, "They have considered everything."
Dr. Salvador Plasencia had previously pleaded not guilty, but in exchange for a guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to drop three additional counts of distribution of ketamine and two counts of falsifying records. Prosecutors outlined the charges in court ahead of the plea, saying, "As Plasencia's lawyers have emphasized, he did not sell Perry the dose that killed the actor."
He said, and Dr. Plascencia admitted, that when the doctor gave Perry an injection he fainted and his blood pressure rose, but Plascencia still left more ketamine for Perry's assistant to inject. The charges against the doctor carry a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. He has been out on bail since his arrest in August and will remain free until his sentencing on Dec. 3. Plascencia did not speak to reporters outside the courthouse. He walked out with his lawyers.
