Doctor pleads guilty in death of ‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry

Los Angeles: One of two California doctors who were among the five people charged in the overdose death of Friends star Matthew Perry has pleaded guilty to a charge of illegally distributing the drug ketamine.

Dr Mark Chavez entered the plea during an appearance in US District Court in Los Angeles on Thursday (AEST). At sentencing, he could face up to 10 years in prison.

Dr Mark Chavez a physician from San Diego, who is charged in connection with actor Matthew Perry’s death from an accidental ketamine overdose.Credit: AP

Another physician charged in the case, Dr Salvador Plasencia, has pleaded not guilty, as has co-defendant Jasveen Sangha, whom authorities said was an illicit supplier of the drug and was known as the “ketamine queen”. The pair are scheduled to go on trial in March.

Perry’s live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who admitted to injecting Perry, and the alleged middleman who said he obtained ketamine from Sangha, have already pleaded guilty to the charges they faced.

Authorities said Plasencia purchased ketamine from Chavez, and in text messages to Chavez discussing the amount to charge Perry for the drug wrote: “I wonder how much this moron will pay”.

Plasencia administered ketamine to Perry and supplied vials that were injected by the assistant, according to court documents.

Perry died at age 54 in October 2023 from “acute effects” of ketamine and other factors that caused him to lose consciousness and drown in his hot tub, according to a December 2023 autopsy report.

The actor had publicly acknowledged decades of substance abuse, including during the years he starred as Chandler Bing on the hit 1990s television sitcom Friends.

Matt Binninger, Chavez’s lawyer, told reporters in August that his client was “doing everything in his power to cooperate, to help in this situation”.

Matthew Perry in 2015.Credit: Brian Ach/Invision/AP

“He’s incredibly remorseful,” Binninger said.

He added that Chavez’s regret stemmed not from Perry’s celebrity but from the fact that “someone who was trying to seek treatment died”.

Reuters

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