Almost two years after the "Friends" star Matthew Perry died of an overdose in his backyard hot tub, the final defendant in his case has officially entered a guilty plea.
Jasveen Sangha, a.k.a the “Ketamine Queen,” appeared in federal court in downtown L.A. on Wednesday morning.
The appearance comes just three weeks after Sangha struck a deal with the U.S. Attorney’s office to switch her not guilty plea after months of resistance.
Looking at up to 65 years behind bars for her part in the Friends star’s death, she will be sentenced on December 10 in front of United States District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett. Sangha also faces a fine that could top $2 million.
The prison sentence and that fine could be much less when sentencing is actually delivered.
In court and in shackles, Sangha acknowledged she knew the drugs she provided to fellow defendant Eric Fleming were likely for Perry. Sitting nearby was the late actor’s mother Suzanne Perry and his stepfather and Dateline NBC frontman Keith Morrison.
Saying little else besides the plea itself and remaining in custody, the 42-year-old Sangha has been accused of one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury.
Four other defendants in the Perry case, including two doctors, will also face sentencing over the next three months to bring an end to the matter, at least legally.
Perry, best known for playing Chandler Bing on the hit sitcom Friends, died on October 28, 2023, at the age of 54 from the acute effects of ketamine, his autopsy determined.
He waged a public battle with severe drug addiction before the tragedy, writing in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, that he “should be dead.”
In the New York Times bestseller, Perry recalled having his first alcoholic drink at the age of 14, getting hooked on painkillers after suffering an injury in a jet ski accident, and spending much of his adult life in and out of treatment facilities “struggling to get this monkey off my back.”
Friends’ massive success almost from the week it debuted in 1994 rocketed Perry to immediate small screen superstardom. While the Marta Kauffman and David Crane-created series ran until 2004, Perry had a varied career outside the sitcom with acclaimed roles on The West Wing, Ally McBeal, The Good Wife, and even as Sen. Ted Kennedy in Reelz’ The Kennedys: After Camelot in 2017.
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