The judge sentenced the doctor to two years and half years in prison. Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence to Dr. Salvador Plasencia on Wednesday. Additionally, the doctor will have to complete two years of probation and pay a $5,600 fine.
While the judge determined that Plasencia didn’t sell the drug that killed Perry, she had little sympathy for the doctor. Garnett determined that Plasencia fed Perry’s addiction. She told him, e emphasized that Plasencia didn’t provide the ketamine that killed Perry, but told him, “You and others helped Mr. Perry on the road to such an ending by continuing to feed his ketamine addiction. You exploited Mr. Perry’s addiction for your own profit.”
Meanwhile, the actor’s family, which included mother, stepmother, and two half sisters, spoke before the sentencing.
“My brother’s death turned my world upside down,” Perry’s sister Madeline Morrison said. “It punched a crater in my life. His absence is everywhere.”
She believes that the doctor took advantage of Perry, who battled with addiction for years prior to his death in 2023. Plasencia is one of five defendants, who have pleaded guilty in connection to Perry’s overdose. He was the first of the group sentenced.
“The world mourns my brother. He was everyone’s favorite friend,” Morrison also said. “Celebrities are not plastic dolls that you can take advantage of. They’re people. They’re human beings with families.”
As part of his guilty plea, the doctor admitted to taking advantage of Perry as an addict. Perry’s mother angrily addressed the man.
“You called him a ‘moron,’” she said. “There is nothing moronic about that man. He was even a successful drug addict.”
For his part, Plasencia apologized to the family of the actor. he admitted that he “should have protected him.” Perry had been purchasing surgical anesthetic ketamine from Plasencia to help treat his depression. The actor started abusing the drug.
The doctor pleaded guilty in July to four counts of distribution of ketamine. The other four defendants will have their own sentencings in the coming months.