Doctor Pleading Guilty in Death of ‘Friends’ Star Matthew Perry

One of the two California doctors charged in the overdose death of Friends star Matthew Perry last year is expected to plead guilty on Wednesday to a charge of illegally distributing the drug ketamine to the actor. 

Dr. Mark Chavez, 54, is set to appear before Judge Jean Rosenbluth in a U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, and Reuters reports his legal team has indicated he will take a plea deal. With the plea, Chavez would still face up to 10 years in prison upon sentencing. Chavez has already surrendered his passport and agreed not to practice medicine.

Ten months after Perry was found dead in his hot tub at his Los Angeles home in October 2023, five people were charged in connection with his accidental overdose. Chavez, who operated a ketamine clinic, sold ketamine lozenges to Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 42, who then provided Perry with them. Plasencia has pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, as has co-defendant “ketamine queen” Jasveen Sangha, whom authorities claim was an illicit supplier of the drug. Plasencia and Sangha are scheduled to go on trial in March.

In the 18-page indictment released in August, Plasencia and Chavez are accused of sending texts regarding the sale of ketamine to Perry reading, “I wonder how much this moron will pay” and “Lets find out.” The indictment also claims Chavez obtained the ketamine for Perry after “writing a fraudulent prescription in a patient’s name without her knowledge or consent, and lied to wholesale ketamine distributors to buy additional vials of liquid ketamine that Chavez intended to sell to Plasencia for distribution to Perry.”

Chavez’s lawyer, Matthew Binninger, said his client was “incredibly remorseful” and “accepting responsibility” for Perry’s overdose, according to NBC News. 

Two other individuals charged in connection with Perry’s death have pleaded guilty already – the actor’s live-in personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, 60, and Erik Fleming, 54, a friend of Perry’s accused of dealing drugs. “We allege each of the defendants played a key role in his death by falsely prescribing, selling or injecting the ketamine that caused Matthew Perry’s tragic death,” Drug Enforcement Administration Chief Anne Milgram said in August. “[Perry’s] journey began with unscrupulous doctors who abused their position of trust because they saw him as a payday to street dealers who gave him ketamine in unmarked vials.”