Matthew Perry's assistant jailed for 41 months over actor's ketamine death
Kenneth Iwamasa, who pleaded guilty last year to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death, said he "will forever regret" his actions.
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Nardine Saad,Los Angelesand
Shaimaa Khalil,in Los Angeles court
The live-in personal assistant to Friends star Matthew Perry has been sentenced to 41 months in prison, capping a multi-year legal saga surrounding the actor's death.
Kenneth Iwamasa, 60, who injected Perry with ketamine, worked with two doctors to provide the actor with more than $50,000 (£38,000) of the drug in the weeks before his death, prosecutors said. Iwamasa had no medical training.
Perry was found dead in his backyard hot tub in Los Angeles in October 2023.
Iwamasa pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death and faced a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison.
He was also sentenced to two years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. He is slated to report to prison on 17 July.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett pointed to Iwamasa's knowledge of Perry's struggle with addiction, as well as concealing evidence after his death, when handing down the sentence.
In a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday, Iwamasa took the stand and turned around to face the actor's family.
"I'm so sorry to all of you. I'm just so sorry to have done illegal acts that I will forever regret. I will take it to my grave," he said.
"I hope I'll be a cautionary tale to someone who's in my position to make better choices."
He added that he was "horribly, horribly sorry" and offered them his condolences.
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Prosecutors sought a prison term of three years and five months for Iwamasa, who was the first of five defendants to reach a plea deal in the case and the last to be sentenced.
Ahead of Iwamasa's sentencing, Perry's mother and sisters submitted letters thanking the judge and telling her where they stood on Iwamasa's sentencing.
"I have no sympathy for Kenny Iwamasa," wrote his sister Caitlin Morrison, adding that when Iwamasa left Perry the night he died, he was "either escaping from something he knew he had done or he was willfully abandoning a vulnerable person in a dangerous situation".
Perry's other sister Madeline Morrison told the judge in a letter that she believed Iwamasa was "more culpable" than ketamine dealer Jasveen Sangha.
Suzanne Morrison said that Iwamasa's "most important job" was to be her son's companion and guardian in his fight against addiction and ensure that Perry remained drug free.
She added that Iwamasa knew that if he felt unduly pressured, he could call a number of people in Perry's orbit and "reinforcements would be on the way, and his job would be safe".
Instead of protecting Perry, he aided and abetted illegal drug taking and arranged for one source of supply, then another, she wrote.
"We trusted a man without a conscience, and my son paid the price," she wrote.
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Matthew Perry, centre, in an episode of NBC's Friends
Iwamasa admitted to repeatedly injecting Perry, including administering multiple injections on the day Perry died.
Medical officials said the actor's overdose death was caused by the acute effects of the dissociative anaesthetic. Drowning was listed as a contributing factor.
"You were privy to his trouble with addiction," Judge Garnett told Iwamasa ahead of sentencing. "You knew he should not have used ketamine at the amount he did."
The judge said that Iwamasa saw the negative effects yet continued to procure and inject Perry with ketamine, including on the day he died, when he left him alone after giving him a large dose.
"Your conduct was reckless the day of his death and the days leading up to that you made concrete steps to get rid of the evidence," she said, adding that he repeatedly lied to police about his involvement in his death.
Kenneth Iwamasa (left) will report to prison on 17 July
Speaking outside the courtroom on Wednesday, Iwamasa said: "I'm horribly sorry and I wish I could turn back time."
His attorney Alan Eisner told reporters that Iwamasa acted at all times at the direction of Perry, who had agency to say no, and he argued to the judge of an uneven power dynamic between the assistant and his employer.
Perry had asked Iwamasa to inject him and his assistant was "incapable" of saying no, but should have pushed back, Eisner said.
"This is not an incident that falls solely on the shoulders of Mr Iwamasa," his attorney said.
US officials say a group of defendants supplied ketamine to Perry and exploited his drug addiction for profit, which led to the actor's overdose death.
All five defendants agreed to plead guilty to their respective charges in the case.
In April, Sangha, a Los Angeles woman dubbed the "Ketamine Queen", was sentenced to 15 years in prison for selling drugs that led to the actor's death.
Dr Salvador Plasencia, who supplied the actor with ketamine in the weeks before his death, was sentenced in December to 30 months in prison.
