Matthew Perry’s Assistant Sentenced in Star’s Fatal Overdose

Kenneth Iwamasa, the live-in personal assistant paid $150,000 a year to help keep Matthew Perry sober, is set to be sentenced on Wednesday after admitting he injected the “Friends” star with the ketamine doses that killed him. Prosecutors are seeking a prison term of three years and five months for the 60-year-old assistant, who became the first of five defendants to reach a plea deal and the last to be sentenced, according to AP News.

A Trust Betrayed

On October 28, 2023, Iwamasa injected Perry with multiple doses of ketamine, then left the actor to run errands. He returned to find Perry dead in his Jacuzzi. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner determined that ketamine was the primary cause of death, with drowning as a secondary cause.

Perry’s family had trusted Iwamasa for decades. When Perry hired him in 2022, relatives felt relieved that someone would be watching over the actor, who had been open about his lifelong struggles with addiction. Instead, according to court filings, Iwamasa became Perry’s drug messenger, addiction enabler, and de facto doctor — administering six to eight injections of ketamine per day in the final days of Perry’s life.

Perry’s mother, Suzanne Morrison, submitted a devastating victim impact statement to the court.

“Mathew trusted Kenny. We trusted Kenny. Kenny’s most important job — by far — was to be my son’s companion and guardian in his fight against addiction,” she wrote. “We trusted a man without a conscience, and my son paid the price.”

Family’s Pain and Disgust

The family’s statements, released publicly ahead of sentencing, paint a picture of betrayal that extended beyond Perry’s death. Suzanne Morrison described how Iwamasa inserted himself into the family’s grieving process — sending her songs, drawing a map to help her navigate the cemetery, calling whenever he saw a rainbow, one of Matthew’s favorite things, and insisting on speaking at the funeral.

“When he had killed my son, he kept a sharp eye on me,” she wrote. “He clung to me and the family as if he was somehow the good guy who tried to save Matthew.”

Perry’s sister, Madeline Morrison, described the pain of watching the man responsible for her brother’s death address mourners.

“The person responsible for my brother’s death stood up and addressed the people who loved him most,” she wrote. “That is like a cruel joke I still struggle with. He didn’t just take my brother’s life — he tainted our final memories of saying goodbye.”

Another sister, Caitlin Morrison, expressed no sympathy for Iwamasa, questioning whether the lethal dose was accidental or intentional when he left Perry alone.

The Truth Emerges Slowly

On the day of Perry’s death, Iwamasa gave police a list of medications that omitted ketamine entirely. It was only after investigators served a search warrant in January 2024 that he began to admit his role, revealing that Perry had told him, “Shoot me up with a big one,” on the day he died.

Iwamasa pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death, becoming a key witness against the other four defendants. His defense lawyers argued that he had “a particular vulnerability to the relationship dynamic” with Perry and could not “simply say no.”

The Five Defendants

The case against the five individuals charged in connection with Perry’s death represents one of the most high-profile drug-related celebrity prosecutions in recent years, demonstrating the Justice Department’s willingness to pursue charges across the entire supply chain, as AP News reported.

• Jasveen Sangha, known as the “Ketamine Queen,” received 15 years in prison for selling the final doses.
• Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who sold ketamine to Perry and taught Iwamasa how to inject, received 2.5 years.
• Erik Fleming, the middleman who connected Iwamasa to Sangha, received 2 years.
• Dr. Mark Chavez, who supplied ketamine to Plasencia, received 8 months of home confinement.
• Kenneth Iwamasa, who administered the fatal injections, faces sentencing on May 27 with prosecutors seeking 3 years and 5 months.

What’s Next

Iwamasa’s sentencing on Wednesday will mark the final chapter in the legal saga surrounding Perry’s death. The judge may deviate from the prosecution’s recommendation, and the powerful victim impact statements from Perry’s family could influence the outcome. Iwamasa remains the only defendant who has not yet given public comment.

Perry, who died at 54, became one of the most recognizable television stars of his generation as Chandler Bing on NBC’s “Friends,” which ran from 1994 to 2004. His mother’s words captured the enduring loss: “He was my Matso, my Manew. He was, in spite of all we went through, my heart and my soul.”