Matthew Perry’s live-in personal assistant, who had a central role in the “Friends” actor’s descent into ketamine addiction and injected him with a fatal dose of the drug, was sentenced Wednesday to three years and five months in prison, bringing an end to the legal saga surrounding the death of one of the biggest TV stars of his generation.
“You were privy to his struggle with addiction,” said Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett, who handed down the sentence to the 60-year-old Kenneth Iwamasa in federal court in Los Angeles.
“Your conduct was reckless, not just on the day of his death but in the days leading up to his death.”Iwamasa was the last person sentenced of the five who pleaded guilty in the investigation and prosecution that followed Perry’s death at age 54 on Oct. 28, 2023.
The group included corrupt doctors and a major street dealer, “Ketamine Queen” Jasveen Sangha, whose 15-year sentence was the only one longer than Iwamasa’s.The assistant was constantly at Perry’s side in his final days, acting as the actor’s enabler, drug messenger and de facto doctor.
He was the last person to see Perry alive, and he was the one who found him dead in his Jacuzzi. He would eventually become prosecutors’ most important informant.
Wednesday’s nearly three-hour hearing was largely a debate between lawyers for both sides, the judge and Perry’s loved ones over the level of responsibility that can be put on the employee of a powerful person when addiction is in the mix.
“His loyalty to Mr. Perry was paramount,” Iwamasa’s lawyer, Alan Eisner, told the judge.
“He worshipped Mr. Perry, he looked up to Mr. Perry. All he did was please and accommodate Mr. Perry.”Eisner argued for a six-month prison term with six months of home confinement.
“Mr. Perry was not blameless,” the lawyer said. “Nobody likes to hear that.”
