A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced Jasveen Sangha, also known as the ‘Ketamine Queen’, to 15 years in prison for selling the ketamine that killed “Friends” star Matthew Perry in 2023.The exact sentence requested by the prosecutor was fifteen years. Sangha’s lawyers argued that the time he has spent in prison since his indictment in August 2024 should be sufficient. They stated that he had no previous arrests and exemplary behavior as a prisoner, and that he had no chance of returning to a life of drug dealing. “You’re going to have to show an epic amount of resilience,” Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett told Sangha, echoing the defendant’s words earlier in the hearing about bettering himself.
He admits that the Jasveen Sangha took “terrible decisions”.
Prosecutors billed her in court filings as the “Ketamine Queen,” who ran an elaborate drug operation catering to high-profile clients for a jet-setting lifestyle.Sangha took the stand on Wednesday before being sentenced and told the judge he wears his shame “like a jacket”. “These were not mistakes. They were terrible decisions,” Sangha said, “that shattered people’s lives and the lives of their families and friends.”
Jasveen Sangha’s lawyer blames addiction for Matthew Perry’s death
Mark Geragos, Sangha’s attorney, said the “loss” of addiction was responsible for Perry’s death, not his client.“There was no one who was going to stop Mr. Perry from doing what he was going to do,” Geragos said.Perry was found dead in the bathtub of her Los Angeles home. The medical examiner ruled that ketamine, commonly used as a surgical anesthetic, was the primary cause of death. Drowning was cited as a secondary cause, while coronary artery disease and buprenorphine were also cited as factors.
Jasveen Sangha’s team challenges the punishment
Citing his admitted role in Perry’s death and his wider drug-trafficking business, the judge handed the 42-year-old a sentence that will almost certainly be more than his four co-defendants combined. Two more will be tried this month. But Wednesday’s trial in a Los Angeles court was, in many ways, the culmination of a two-and-a-half-year investigation and indictments following the overdose death of the 54-year-old actor, who played Chandler Bing on NBC’s “Friends” in the 1990s and 2000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 in the TV show.The judge said he is trying to carefully calibrate the sentences of the five defendants. He raised concerns about the balance during the hearing, asking attorneys why Sangha deserved so much more time than Plasencia or Perry’s assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, who obtained and injected and injected drugs at Perry’s request. Geragos realized this and said that the difference is huge. “Is the person who supplies the ammunition more guilty than the person who pulls the trigger?” he asked.
Matthew Perry’s Ketamine Use
Perry used the drug through his regular doctor as an illegal treatment for depression. But he sought more than the doctor would give him. This initially led to Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who admitted to illegally selling Perry ketamine and sentenced him to 2 1/2 years in prison. And, days before his death, he took Perry to Sangha, a $6,000 cash buyout that included the fatal dose. Another doctor who admitted to giving Plasencia the ketamine he sold to Perry was sentenced to eight months of house arrest. Perry’s assistant and her friend, who agreed to act as an intermediary for the actress, are awaiting sentencing.
Matthew Perry’s family reacts
Keith Morrison, Perry’s stepfather and a correspondent for NBC’s “Dateline,” told the judge that he and Perry’s mother, Suzanne, feel “an overwhelming sadness and grief every day.”“There was a spark in that man that I’ve never seen anywhere else,” Morrison said in his familiar, dramatic voice. “It should have been another act. Two more actions.”Perry’s stepmother Debbie Perry told Sangha that he had hurt “hundreds, maybe thousands” of people. The judge applauded the Sangha for the “numerous” letters of support received from family and friends. Many of them were there in court, sitting across from Perry’s family. “There is no joy in this process,” Garnett told the victim’s family members. “Maybe, finally, you will feel justice.”
Jasveen Sangha has dropped the ‘Ketamine Queen’ tag
In September, Sangha was the last of five defendants to plead guilty to one count of using his home to distribute drugs, three counts of distribution of ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine causing death.Geragos complained of the prosecution’s use of the nickname “Ketamine Queen,” which was attributed to U.S. Attorney E. Martin Estrada when the case was filed. “That was not his name, that was his very clear name to attract media attention in this case,” he said.
Jasveen Sangha’s drug business
But before sentencing, Garnett said the size of Sangha’s drug business, his years of dealing and his long list of clients clearly made him more culpable. And he said he believed Sanga’s criminal history was overrepresented. The judge also cited Sangha’s treatment after learning that one of his clients, 33-year-old Cody McLaury, had died in 2019 via a text message from his sister. Sister Kimberly McLaury spoke in court. “If I had stopped selling ketamine when I texted you, we wouldn’t be here today,” he said.
