Salvador Plasencia, who operated an urgent-care clinic outside Los Angeles, is the first of five people to be sentenced in connection with the death of the Friends actor. Perry was found drowned in the hot tub at his home after taking ketamine in October.During the hearing, Plasencia broke into tears as he spoke about the day he would have to tell his now two-year-old son “about the time I didn’t protect another mother’s son”. Apologising directly to Perry’s family, he said: “I should have protected him.”
The doctor’s mother cried loudly in the courtroom as he was led out in handcuffs.
Ahead of the sentencing, Perry’s mother Suzanne Perry and stepfather Keith Morrison described those involved in supplying ketamine to the star illegally as “jackals”, and said they believed Plasencia to be “among the most culpable of all”.
The actor had been taking ketamine legally as a treatment for depression, but started seeking more of the drug and taking it unsupervised in the weeks before his death, acquiring it illegally from different sources.
Plasencia, 44, did not supply the dose that killed the actor, but had been distributing the surgical anesthetic to him in the weeks beforehand.
He initially denied the charges against him but changed his plea earlier this year, admitting four counts of distribution. He could have faced up to 40 years in prison had he been convicted at trial.
