Los Angeles, Dec 4, (dpa/GNA) – Two years after the death of “Friends” star Matthew Perry, a court in California has sentenced one of his doctors to two and a half years in prison, US media reported on Wednesday.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also imposed a $5,600 fine, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The 43-year-old doctor had earlier admitted supplying the actor with the anaesthetic ketamine, expressed remorse and pleaded guilty. In return for his plea, additional charges were dropped.
Prosecutors had accused the doctor of obtaining ketamine for Perry several times between September 30 and October 12, 2023.
In several instances, the doctor is said to have injected Perry with the drug, including at the actor’s home and in the back seat of Perry’s car in a public car park. He reportedly received several thousand dollars for doing so.
However, prosecutors said the ketamine that ultimately caused Perry’s death did not come from him personally.
Perry was found dead on October 28, 2023 aged 54 in the hot tub of his home in Los Angeles.
He became world-famous through the US television series “Friends,” in which he starred alongside Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer.
The actor had spoken publicly about his struggle with addiction. According to reports, he had undergone ketamine therapy under medical supervision for depression and anxiety. He had also allegedly obtained the drug on the black market.
According to the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office, Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine, with contributing factors including drowning, heart disease and the effects of a medication used to treat opioid dependence. His death was ruled an accident.
Police and prosecutors had brought serious accusations against five people arrested after Perry’s death. Three of them, another doctor, an assistant and a friend of the actor, pleaded guilty last year. Sentencing is still pending.
Ketamine is a long-established anaesthetic. It can also be used, under certain conditions, to treat people with treatment-resistant depression. Some partygoers use the drug illegally as a club drug.
GNA