Doctor charged in connection with Matthew Perry’s death, expected to plead guilty
One of the two doctors charged in the investigation of the death of Friends star Mathew Perry is expected to plead guilty to conspiring to distribute surgical anesthetic ketamine.
54-year-old Dr. Mark Chavez would be the third person to plead guilty after the fatal overdose of the Friends star last year alongside two other doctors.
He also signed a plea deal with prosecutors in August where he and two others were offered lesser charges in exchange for information on two targets more responsible for Perry’s death: an alleged dealer known as “ketamine queen” of Los Angeles and another doctor.
Chavez’s lawyer, Matthew Binninger, said on Aug.30 that the doctor is “incredibly remorseful because it happened to a patient” and is “trying to do everything in his power to right the wrong that happened.”
For now, he is free on bond after turning over his passport and surrendering his medical license after admitting that he submitted a fraudulent prescription to obtain ketamine from his former clinic and wholesale distributor. After a guilty verdict, Chavez could get sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
Chavez, Perry's assistant, an acquaintance who admitted to being a drug messenger are cooperating with prosecutors to go after Dr. Salvador Plasencia who illegally sold ketamine to Perry a month before his death, and Jasveen Sangha, “ketamine queen,” who sold the lethal dose of ketamine. Both have pleaded guilty and are awaiting trial.
Perry’s assistant found him dead in October 2023. The autopsy ruled that an overdose of ketamine was the primary cause of death. Even before that, the actor has been dealing with drug abuse through an off-label treatment for depression from his regular doctor.