Lawyer for Doctor Charged in Matthew Perry's Death Claims the Doctor Just Wanted to 'Help' the Actor 'Ease His Problems'

Peacock’s new documentary Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy is re-examining the death of the beloved Friends star.

Matthew Perry died at the age of 54 in October 2023 from an accidental ketamine overdose after openly struggling with addiction for more than two decades. Ten months later, five people were charged in connection with his death, including medical doctors Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez. 

“In the past, we used to call these things ‘overdose deaths’ and do more blaming of the victim,” Former United States Attorney for the State of California Central District Martin Estrada, who launched the investigation but stepped down from the role in January, says in the documentary. “We don't do that anymore. We blame the drug dealers, the drug sellers, for taking advantage of those addiction issues that cause death and serious injury."

While Chavez pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and agreed to cooperate with authorities, Plasencia entered a not-guilty plea after being charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, seven counts of distribution of ketamine and two counts of altering and falsifying documents.

In a clip included in the documentary, Plasencia's attorney Stefan Sacks explains why his client is maintaining his innocence.

“Dr. Plasencia was trying to help Mr. Perry and provide medical care that would ease his problems,” Sacks says. “Dr. Plasencia wasn’t aware that Mr. Perry was obtaining ketamine from other individuals initially, and when it became apparent that there might be something else going on, he wasn’t providing any ketamine to Mr. Perry at that point.”

Estrada disagrees with Sacks; he believes Plasencia knew what he was doing was wrong.

“Dr. Plasencia was very clear in text messages and other messages in saying that he saw this as an opportunity to make a lot of money in a short amount of time, and he allegedly did just that,” Estrada says. “He sets the prices — which were exorbitant — and the indictment contains evidence that he sold, over about a month, 20 vials of ketamine in exchange for $55,000.”

“They even talked about the fact that this wasn't the right way to administer ketamine, yet it was the golden opportunity to make money,” he adds. “And at one point, Dr. Plasencia writes to Dr. Chavez, ‘I wonder how much this moron will pay.’ ”

By mid October, weeks before Perry’s death, Estrada claims, Plasencia "had numerous red flags that were flashing in front of him,” but he did not stop providing Perry with ketamine. Estrada went on to say that, per the indictment, Plasencia even taught Perry’s live-in assistant how to inject the drug, and that is who ultimately gave Perry the dose that killed him.

“A trained doctor like Dr. Plasencia knew much better,” Estrada adds. “One of the overall themes of our indictment is that all these defendants should have known better. They were taking advantage of an individual and letting their greed drive them to endanger Mr. Perry’s life.”

Sacks, however, hasn't wavered in his defense of his client, previously saying in court: "At the end of the day, Dr. Plasencia was providing medical treatment to Mr. Perry. He was operating in good faith under what he believed was his duty and whether or not there was a lapse in judgement in retrospect, it doesn't negate the fact that he was pursuing this with the best of medical intention."

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